Personal note

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

"And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Acts 2:21

"For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit." Ephesians 2:18

These verses gave me much comfort this past couple of weeks. My father died on June 14th. I didn't know him well and he was not a part of my life growing up. He was an alcoholic and had lived much of his life with shame and guilt over the choices he made that affected me and my sister. I had seen him only a few times and had written him several times over the years but never received any communication in return. But the Lord is so good - I was able to attend my aunt's funeral (my fathers sister) back in January of this year and had a long talk with my dad. I told him that I loved him and forgave him. I found out today that was a turning point in his life. He was able to accept my forgiveness and I believe the Holy Spirit was opening his heart up for accepting Jesus' forgiveness and sacrifice. He was filled with shame at the funeral and couldn't stop saying "I'm sorry". I understood at that time how difficult it was for him to try to attempt to have a relationship (with me and my sister) with all the guilt he was living with.

Two weeks before his death he went to live with his sister and she lead him to the Lord! I can not imagine the burden that was lifted from his shoulders but am so thankful that he experienced Christ's love and forgiveness before his death. And what a blessing to know that the Lord of all waited for that perfect time to call my dad home. Now my earthly father is singing praises to his and my Heavenly Father for eternity!

We spread his ashes today at his parents grave site and I told my family how difficult it was to be sad because "If you loved me you would be glad that I am going to the Father for the Father is greater than I." (John 14:28) and I am so happy he is with the Father!

A place to rest our heads!

How many times have we driven pass this "artwork" and never stopped? But today was the day. Tarrin just started driving when Chuck pointed it out, so we turned around and decided to take some pictures. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I drove in the morning (Friday) and Tarrin drove the rest of the day. This was written while we were driving through Oklahoma, because really what else is there in Oklahoma?!



And now that I've finally gotten on the Internet at my mom's I can update the blog.

The drive was good, hard to sleep in the truck though. But last night we slept in a real bed and slept in! Felt good and also thankful for having a place to lay our heads at night.

We will be here in Midland until Friday then we are off to New York. So the blog this week will be basically updates from Midland (Chuck and my hometown).

If you know of anyone who would like to host a presentation please have them contact Chuck.

By the way, on my last post I didn't have the link for The Jonah Project but now I do. We've had people tell us they didn't want to help outside the US - this project is right here.

Homeless but not hopeless

We visited The Jonah Project. Here Patrick, Mary, Jeremiah and Sara have been blessed with over 35,000 sq. ft. of building for The Project. They are currently getting the inside ready for a church, dorm area for women and children, computer area etc. We heard story after story from them of God's faithfulness and we were able to see first hand how much they love the Lord and love working with the homeless on Skid Row. (Patrick is on the far left with the dreads!)

Then we visited Set Free Church also located on Skid Row. Pastor Ron and his wife (pictured here in the chapel) had a beautiful service. Pastor Ron is familiar with the struggles these people go through because he was once a drug-addicted, homeless person just like them.

At the beginning of service he said he wasn't feeling well and maybe he would get everyone out of there early, but then his wife sang Mercy Said No and he was then filled with the Holy Spirit and began preaching about God's goodness and mercy for all of us! He asked everyone if it was alright if he just preached on that instead of finishing the sermon from Sunday! It was an uplifting and encouraging sermon and you can tell he loves the Lord and means every word he preaches!


Set Free also has an outreach where men can come and stay to get back on their feet. This is Thomas, Tarrin met him on her last trip to Skid Row. He cooks for the outreach and does a mean spaghetti! He is so passionate about his love for Jesus and what He has done in his life. You can see the Lord shining through him every time you talk with him.

While walking around you felt a heaviness on the people. Such hurting individuals, yet with The Jonah Project and Set Free Church those individuals are being told of the truth of Jesus Christ and His hope for them. What a blessing it was for me to see the Lord working everywhere in peoples lives. He loves every single one of us and wants us to be near Him and that is the message being told on the streets of Skid Row - Praise God!

It's chilly here!

Our road trip to LA was uneventful - thank you God for a beautiful and safe trip.

Tarrin took some photos of the scenery but mostly slept all the way here. I can't really say much because so did I. Tomorrow we are planning on visiting Skid Row, Tarrin has a couple of contacts we'll be meeting and working with for the day.

When we arrived at my sister's home I got out of the truck and actually shivered! It's quite chilly here compared to over 100 degrees in Phoenix! Makes me realize that the homeless in every area has some of the same issues to contend with - heat during the day and cold at night.

Please pray for our homeless brothers and sisters that they may get involved with an organization who can help them.

Thank You!

A big THANK YOU goes out to all those at Desert Breeze Community Church who gave their spare change for Kenya. The church placed a 5-gallon water jug at their outreach table and congregants reached into their pockets to give whatever spare change they had to the ministry. Over $700 was raised!

What an example of how simple and inexpensive it is to reach into your pocket/purse and give your change, yet what a blessing it will be to the children of Kenya.

Visit The Change Campaign to become a monthly partner with us for $12/month (that's just 40¢/day!)

Happy Father's Day!

To all you dad's out there - Happy Father's Day!

We are presenting The Change Campaign to our local church today and helping people understand how easy it is to change the life of a child in Kenya. Just $12/month can bring change into their lives!


Your support will enable us to take the gospel of our Heavenly Father to these kids who have no earthly father. And by His grace they are learning that God is real and He will provide for them through your partnership with us.

On this Father's Day please remember those who do not have a dad and if you haven't spoken to your dad in awhile - call him!

Final thoughts

Our friend, Robert, came to Kenya for a couple of weeks last year (during our August 2008 trip) to help at Nice View Academy/Orphanage and to witness the poverty we experience in Kenya.

While he was at Nice View Academy he helped hang mosquito nets, serve dinner to the kids and most importantly showed them he really cared. Robert would have small bible studies with the kids, talk to them about school and got to know them on a personal level.

This is Robert on our way to Nairobi to drop him off at the airport. I asked him what stood out the most to him during his two week stay...

The generosity of the people we meet in Kenya and their willingness to give the last of what they have is a humbling experience. Please consider becoming a partner with us through Saved By God's Grace or The Change Campaign, your support lets our kids in Kenya know someone cares. Thank you.

Feet

Weird subject I know, but everyone has them - some people have problems with theirs others don't even think about them.

As in most places, boys are rough on their feet. Here at Eldama Ravine the boys were playing football (American soccer) and, as usual, many only have their school shoes and flip-flops which are not the easiest to play in. So they were running in the field without shoes and Anthony got something in his foot. Peter then stopped the game to help him out, which I thought was very sweet.

Then you see the girls making sure their feet are clean and soft. Again at Eldama Ravine I watched the girls rub their feet on a rock which was very much like a pumice stone. By the time they were done their feet were as smooth as a baby's bottom!

It just reminded me of the fact that boys are boys and will continue to play rough and not worry about their feet. While girls like to keep things neat and clean.

Another reason to join The Change Campaign...keeping shoes on their growing feet!

The simple still works

I was talking with someone today about all the new inventions that have come out for babies. My youngest will be 18 in August so it's been 18 years since I've purchased baby things. But we were talking about the carriers for babies and how many different products there are just for carrying a baby around.

In Kenya there seems to be one way and it is simple and inexpensive. Plus I hear it's a very comfortable way to carry a baby. What impressed me about this form of "baby handling" is how they get the baby onto their backs! It's quite acrobatic and I thought for sure I'd see a baby falling to the ground. But even young girls carry their baby sister/brother around on their back and they do the same acrobatic dance.

Many times the women are carrying the babies around because they aren't walking yet, or they want to get around the market with their hands free to check out the vegetables. However, this woman was forced to carry her son while she was begging for money so that her son could have surgery on his legs.

The products we have so readily available here in the US are unheard of in this area. And honestly I wonder if many of them would scoff if they saw them. With this simple method they are wrapping their baby and keeping them close. What child wouldn't love that?

Beautiful mwaitu!

Gideon (Director at Nice View Academy) has his mother (mwaitu) living with him and his family. I love her like my own grandmother.

Whenever we would come into the house for dinner she would usually ask us one of several questions like:

1) "What tribe are you from?"

2) "How was the party?" this one puzzled me - I guess we always looked like we had just come from a party!

3) "Are we related?"

Gideon and Pauline would usually answer for us and tell her we were from her tribe and yes we were related! I wondered if she ever saw us as white? Her peace for life came from her trust in the Almighty and I think that blinded her to the black/white issue.

I miss hearing her singing everyday. She would even sing her answers to questions! Her health is slowly failing (they believe she is around 103 years old!) and I pray the remainder of her life is spent in peace and happiness.

What a blessing it was to see her and spend time with her. When she would pray for us, even though we didn't understand the language, you just knew she was speaking directly to God.

Please pray for mwaitu and for Pauline and Gideon to have the strength to continue honoring their mother.

Playing on the field...

My external hard drive crashed a couple of weeks ago with all my downloaded video from our last trip :(

So I have begun the process of re-downloading it (about 5 hours of tape!) By the way, thanks Mike for the new external.

Here's a very short clip of the kids at Nice View Academy playing while we toured the new building progress (August 2008).

There laughter and watching them play takes me back to them in a heartbeat. Please consider becoming a monthly supporter either through Saved By God's Grace or The Change Campaign. Your partnership with us is helping our kids in Kenya have the chance to be kids without the worry of where their next meal is coming from. Thank you!

The Good News...

The past few days I've been thinking a lot about the Gospel message and how we spread the Good News. We are called to teach all nations to obey God's commandments (Matthew 28:18-20).

But how do we do that? We speak the words to people, but without our lives being an example of the Word we are simply talking (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

By living out the precepts God has laid out for us (one being - love your neighbor as yourself, Mark 12:31) we are showing Christ's love to the nations. Saved By God's Grace is bringing that love to the country of Kenya - specifically Tala, Koma Rock and Eldama Ravine.

By providing for our children's basic necessities they are beginning to understand that it is God who is loving them and providing for them. He hasn't forgotten them and He continues to provide for them through your support.

Thank you to all who are part of Saved By God's Grace and/or The Change Campaign. You are supporting the hands and feet of spreading the Good News to the country of Kenya.

Missing friends, family...Kenya

We watched a film last night about a country in Africa and it really made me miss...

...the kids

...hearing "mum and dad are here!"

...singing praise and worship songs with them - although some of them are in Swahili

...the little ones staring, then smiling for a picture

...the kids asking for sweets

...the older kids asking for a picture

...the friendly people stopping to say hello, just because

...tea time - a time to relax with friends and/or family to chat it forward

...laughing together about our differences in culture

...my Kenyan family

...long talks during dinner (even though I usually went to bed long before the conversation was over!)

...the togetherness


All these things have helped to build a relationship which encourages conversation and helping each other in times of trouble. With your continued support we are continuing to build on these relationships and bringing the gospel to them not only in word but in action. Loving our neighbor as ourself.

Please consider becoming a $12/month partner with us through The Change Campaign and see how your spare change can bless our kids in Kenya.

New video!!

Hey everyone - check out the new video for The Change Campaign!

What are you waiting for? Join us today!!!

The call is being made...

Ok everyone we have a better idea of our schedule for our tour of The Change Campaign and we are asking for your help.

As you can see from our Calendar of Events we will be in Los Angeles, CA June 24, 25, 26 and 27. If you or someone you know would like us to present Saved By God's Grace along with The Change Campaign please contact our Executive Director, Chuck.

We will then be in Michigan for a couple of days before heading to New York City where we will be staying from July 4th - July 12th. Again, we will be happy to speak to any size group or if you'd like to have a fundraiser while we are in the area please contact Chuck and he will be happy to work with you on arranging the schedule.

After our stay in New York we will be traveling back to Arizona with possible stops in Georgia, Oklahoma and Florida. We would love to meet some of you in our travels and answer any questions you may have about this ministry.

Please help us spread the news of The Change Campaign so we can bring change to our Kenyan kids.

Buying for a cause...

I'm not one to encourage consumerism, but I do know people need to buy necessities. And by buying your necessities you can support Saved By God's Grace.

We are now affiliated with SendThemForHim - an online shopping rebate program. They have lots of different brands/stores/merchants to buy from and when you buy through our page Saved By God's Grace will receive a percentage of the purchase price.

Amazon.com, Family Christian Stores, GNC, Motorcycle Superstore, Ebay, Laptops for Less and even Wal-Mart are among the hundreds of stores available to purchase from! Many have free shipping and no sales tax (each merchant will list those details).

Save this link to your desktop and when ever you shop online check it out. So you'll be getting your necessities and at the same time helping Saved By God's Grace.

Struggles still continue

Talking to friends in Kenya today and it's always a mixed bag of emotions. Happy to hear their voices, sad to hear their stories, impatient to be there and thankful for the chance to encourage them.

Our friend Ruth is working from 4am until 9pm at a hotel. For clarification, a hotel in Tala means a restaurant. They open at 6am and serve small food items in the morning like mandazi, which are like donuts, and chai tea. Then they sell fish, chapati, ugali and other Kenyan foods in the afternoon and into the evening. Since food prices are so high they are struggling to buy the food and many people in the area are not working so they don't have many customers.

Ruth had malaria a few weeks back and is still weak from that, plus now she has the flu. But she doesn't have a choice to stay home, she must work to make what she can so she can afford to eat a little bit. Please keep her in your prayers for strength, providence and encouragement.


I also talked with Annastacia and, along with Ruth, I wanted to be sitting next to them talking. I want to be near them so we can pray together, talk and encourage each other.

Annastacia said the children are all doing well but they are missing smokies (sausages) and spaghetti! They haven't had any since we left in November of 2008. I told her we would see what we could do, but I reminded her that food prices are very high and we have to be good stewards of the provision God sends our way. He has been faithful in providing what's been needed to feed the children, however work on the school, search for a bus and other projects have been put on hold until funding is available.

Our prayer here at Saved By God's Grace is that The Change Campaign will bring that providence for Mercy, Eldama Ravine and Nice View not only for the basic necessities, projects to be completed and to be on-site longer but also so they can have smokies and spaghetti once in awhile.

A dream come true...

There was a huge agricultural show in Nairobi while we were in Kenya last year (2008). It's something that occurs every year and many schools try to attend. It reminded me of the 4H fairs I would attend when I was younger.

For many of our students at Nice View and Mercy it was literally a dream come true to attend!

Even the bus ride there was an adventure. Most of the kids had never been outside their village, let alone, seen a big city like Nairobi. So they got to walk around and learn about the agriculture of Kenya, ask questions of government officials at the "show" and of course ride some carnival like rides.

They had such a good time and before going home they all got to eat at an outside restaurant - which again was a first for many of them.

The one thing that touched me as I look through my pictures was this last one of students from Mercy sitting next to students from Nice View Academy.

One of my prayers is that the Lord will continue to provide providence and guidance for Saved By God's Grace so we will know how to move each day in helping the kids at Mercy, Nice View and Eldama Ravine.

Please consider becoming a part of "The Change Campaign". Your spare change can be multiplied by God to help these kids.

"...what is impossible with man is possible with God." (Luke 18:27)

Beautiful country...

This was taken as we walked to Nice View Academy from our home. We got to see the shambas, talk to neighbors and catch up on some local news! This is also where I was "blessed" by two angels! (read about it here)

This is at the Menengai Crater in Nakuru, Kenya. Like the Grand Canyon except green!

We visited our friend Ruth's family in Eldoret, Kenya. Her brother, Mutuku, has a gift for plants and has landscaped his fathers compound beautifully. I could have stayed there in the quiet for hours!

This little guy was just sitting, resting. I think he was on his way home from the market and just needed a rest.

It's all beautiful country that God created, but what I love most is...the beautiful children!

Last day at the Academy

These are sad photos for me because 1) they were taken our last day in Kenya (our first trip) and 2) my hair is way too short!

Since then my hair has grown out and we had another trip (at the end of 2008) to visit the kids at Nice View and meet the kids at Mercy and Eldama Ravine.

Our prayer is to get back to Kenya on a more permanent basis and The Change Campaign is one way of getting us back there. Please visit the website and prayerfully consider becoming a $12/month supporter.

Thank you and have a blessed weekend!

The Change Campaign has begun!

Go to our website (http://www.thechangecampaign.org/) to see how your spare change can help change the lives of our kids in Kenya.

Dinner entertainment!

After taking this video and watching it several times I have come to the conclusion that "kids are kids"! We were waiting for dinner at Nice View Academy and asked if the kids knew any songs. That started the whole thing...someone got a jug to use as a drum, a stick for a drum stick and their voices to sing out loud.

I really miss these kids (and all our other kids at Mercy and Eldama Ravine).

This video makes me so happy because they aren't worried about if they are going to eat. They are simply having a good time while they wait for dinner.

You can be a part of putting a smile on these kids' faces. If you'd like to help feed, clothe, educate, etc. the kids at Nice View Academy, Mercy Child Foundation and Eldama Ravine Children's Village please go to our website and become a monthly supporter.

Thank you and God bless.

Have you written your sponsored child?

We have a pen-pal system set up with a school here in Phoenix so they can write students at Nice View Academy. The program began at the beginning of our school year (Sept. 2008) and the students have written back and forth a couple of times. Today I received another batch of letters and as I read through them some make me laugh and some make me cry and others just make me darn proud!

Here are some quotes from the recent letters:

"It's precious and fantastic because God has given me this chance to write to you and know how you are going on with your life. I'm happy than I've ever felt." Veronicah Wayua

"I does not be excited for the school to end because I like studing very much." Sharon Nthenya

"My favorite thing to do when I am out of school is to help my parents and obey my elders...I have never heard of teepeeing." Philip Kilonzo

"I would like to meet you in person too." Nelly Ndinda

"In Kenya we live peaceful at our home is peaceful." Kelvin Mwendwa

"I am doing well in my studies. Am also very sad of your uncle's first wife mother who died. I don't have nothing to give you except to say sorry about that. I will pray for your family and don't forget to pray for my studies." Josphat Nzisa

"I will pray for your team so that it can win all the game. I will call my friend so that we can pray for you to get a good team. I wish to play." Daniel Gacheru

"I have just got a puppy. Not mine but my fathers. It is not my mum's puppy or anyone in my family." Bonface

"Here in school I am trying to do my best so that I can achieve my goal more so I am not good in maths but I am just trying." Beatrice Mumbua

"God has been my protector and my provider in every situations." Antony Muange

If you are a sponsor please consider taking a few minutes to write your sponsored child. You can send your email letter to sponsoredchild@SavedByGodsGrace.org They love receiving letters and they love responding to letters. What an easy way to make a connection with your child in Kenya!