From Colleen, with love

Friends and Family!
We are creeping up on our two month mark here and are getting more and more acclimated to the culture. There are many things that we love about the culture and many things we are realizing could cause some barriers and frustrations. For instance: I go to buy eggs from a little shop on my way to the baby center, each time I go I am greeted with kisses and hugs and am asked to stay for tea. I love how incredibly friendly and welcoming the people are of outsiders.

At the same time there are some real frustrations. Example 2: Cason and I were supposed to help out with a meeting and arrived a little late (the meeting was at 1 we arrived at 1:15pm) Well no one was there so we went to the baby center to play with some kids. Around 2-2:15pm some of the people started arriving but there were no leaders yet so Cason winged it and got the meeting started. At 10 till 3pm the leaders showed up and then at 3pm the meeting was over b/c another group needed the facility… So we are beginning to pray for patience and understanding.

Cason just finished up executive meetings in Tenwek and I got to teach some science!  It was a lot of fun getting to know the MKs and  especially fun brushing up on my teaching skills. This picture is one of my classes.  We studied the characteristics of living things and watch yeast breathe!  I know... not many of you get excited about that :) 

Cason has been playing soccer pretty regularly and even got to watch Liverpool beat Man U in a little wood hut out by the baby center  He's had a lot of fun building relationships with these guys and is really hoping that a solid ministry can be started from it.  Most of the guys play soccer in bare feet on the hard rocky dusty ground – Click HERE for some pictures.  We are amazed at how tough they are!  If anyone has extra soccer cleats laying around or wants to donate money for shoes or uniforms, Cason is hoping to collect a bunch to give to the guys he plays with.  shoot him an email at casonandcolleen@gmail.com if you are interested!

This last week a work team from Nappanee church arrived and was incredibly helpful to the caregivers and myself. They played with the kids non stop, and did several projects around the center that needed to be done. They had so much energy and even amongst being around sick kids, and getting sick themselves, they stayed positive and loved the children. They had such servants’ hearts and I could tell that God had prepared them to love on these kids. It was very hard for us to let them leave, and hard for them to leave the kids. I am praying that God uses the heartbreak of parting with these beautiful children to further his ministry here and to use the passion and love they have to touch others for the orphans of Kenya.  The team dressed the kids up as a nativity to take some pictures… left is Ida and Jessie as cute little sheep.  Click HERE to see more pictures of the team with the kids. 

Life is back to normal now… as normal as life here gets ;) and we are preparing for the super busy next few months. We have quite a few visitors coming and we are getting very excited to see some family in December and January! It is starting to get difficult not being an active part of our friends and family’s lives. We are realizing that following God’s will means missing out on some very important phases in people’s lives and we are trying to reconcile that and to not get discouraged. We love you all so much and welcome any news or updates on your lives.

Love, Colleen

PS – In our last post we talked about the Greenlees goodbye service… Click HERE to see some pictures of the service and the church we attend.

Dinner with Friends / Microfinance / Greenlees

Hey, sorry for the lack of posts this week.  We’ve been busy and then on the road for meetings.  Click HERE for a hilarious album of pictures of a few of the Baby Center kids playing with sidewalk chalk - more chalk made it onto the kids than the sidewalk! Here’s a few highlights from recently:

Last week we had dinner at the home of some Kenyan friends, the Muchiras, from church which was wonderful – we ate a whole fish with our hands and it was so good!  Fortunately, we avoided the head and the tail… We had some great conversation with our hosts and learned more about the violent clashes in Kenya during the election two years ago.  Much of the conflict was tribal based, so it was interesting to hear the Muchiras perspective since they are an inter-tribal couple.  During the fighting, people had been friendly neighbors for years were suddenly aggressive enemies because of tribal and political pressure; some people displaced from there homes during that time are still living in camps with no home to return to.  The next presidential elections are in 2012, and there are many who think the violence will be even worse then.  The only real hope for the country is if enough people have a change of heart and realize that tribal allegiance is … The churches of Kenya need to be the leader of this revolution of thinking, and many of them are working towards changing attitudes through the love of Christ.  However, even in the body of believers, some tribal tensions are often just below the surface, so we need to be praying that the love and unity found in Christ penetrates deep into the hearts and psyche of this culture.  

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to accompany Eliud Muchira (the friend at who’s house we had dinner) to a microfinance ministry that he helps facilitate in a poorer area of Nakuru called Shabob.  The ministry gives financial guidance, spiritual encouragement, and small-business loans to women with little shops (called “dukas”).  The program provides funding to those who need it at a much lower interest rate than a bank, but requires that they present a business plan and holds them accountable for repayment.  The 40 or so women meet twice a month for encouragement, both spiritual and business-oriented, and for scheduled payments.  I loved the meeting, because the women praised the Lord with such passion and really wanted to better their lives.  The picture above is Eliud sharing with the group, and below is the women worshipping the Lord.

I had the opportunity to (impromptu) share with them, and I spoke on the story of Joseph – how God made him second in command of Egypt, showed him that there was going to be 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine, and used him to bless his family and nation because he planned ahead.  Foresight is something that some Kenyans really struggle with, so I used an example from scripture of preparing for the feast during the famine.  We also discussed how, because of his preparation, Joseph was able to bless his family and friends.  “As you have opportunity, do good to all people, especially to the family of believers.”  Galatians 6:10  I am so excited to be involved in

 On Sunday, the Greenlees, who were volunteers with WGM like us, left to go back to the US after serving in Kenya for 9 months at the Baby Center and Ngata AGC.  HERE is an album of pictures from the Greenlees farewell at the Baby Center.The picture at left is the Greenlees with the Muchiras.  We will miss having another young couple like them around and hope that the Lord continues to lead their lives.  They are prayerfully considering returning to Kenya, but don’t know what the Lord has for them.  The church service on Sunday was a typical Kenyan farewell to them complete with traditional African dress (for Jeremy and Nicole), speeches, presentation, prayers, gifts, dancing, and (of course) chai!  Needless to say, it wasn’t a short service : ) , but it was a great send-off.  They will be missed! 

That’s all for now – as always, thanks for reading! 

Weekend in Nairobi - Part Two (see below for Part One)

I (Colleen) finally got to see some wildlife!  On the drive to Nairobi we saw Zebras grazing beside the road, warthogs rooting around and baboons hanging out around signposts.  It killed me that we were driving and I couldn’t get out and take a closer look at them all!  Cason locked the door and told the Vanderhoofs to floor it so I couldn’t try and get out ; ) 

The real excitement happened on Saturday, because we went to an elephant orphanage!  This organization rescues baby elephants from all over Kenya that are stuck in wells, sick, whose parents have been poached, etc.  Their stories are very sad but they are so happy at the orphanage.  They have them in family groups and help them to bond and adjust. Go to  www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org  if you would like to read the stories about how each elephant was found.  We watched the caregivers bottle feed all of the babies and then they played in a big mudhole, wrestling and spraying each other with water.  It is amazing how intelligent elephants are!   They even kicked around a soccer ball.  Some were very curious about the people standing around watching them and would come over to check us out with their trunks.  One even got a little frisky and decided to take a detour through the crowd instead of sticking with the group as they were all leaving.   I wanted to take one home!  Click HERE to see some more pictures of the baby elephants. 

While we were watching the elephants play a very friendly warthog walked in and out of the crowd of people hoping to catch some leftover milk formula or hay that the elephants were eating, and later on we met a not so friendly warthog who tried to charge Jim!  We were also visited by a partially blind rhino who kept wanting to walk right into all the spectators to get a closer look much to the dismay of the caregivers who were trying to keep us all out of it’s way.

We reluctantly left the elephant orphanage and went to the Duncan’s (WGM Africa Regional Directors) house for a wonderful Peruvian meal and fellowship.  After which we went straight back to viewing more wildlife! 

We decided to go to another animal orphanage connected to Nairobi National Park.  We had a wildlife intern named Richard who took us around the orphanage to introduce us to the animals.  We were very excited to learn that we could go in the cage with two of the cheetahs!  They were both abandoned at a very young age and had been hand raised so they really love people.  This picture is us petting a one year old girl named Wendy and she was purring like a kitten! We also got to meet a monkey named Barack… I thought that was pretty funny…   He looked like a Who from Whoville and loved to have his belly scratched.  Click HERE to see some pictures of our time at the animal orphanage, including some of us in the cage with the cheetahs! 

Overall it was a very fun weekend to Nairobi and I am very excited to return and visit both animal orphanages again.  I am very glad to be back home cuddling my own 30 orphans at the Baby Center, even though they aren’t quite as fuzzy as the cheetahs or elephants…

Please Pray:

~ We have 8 new babies to bring to the Baby Center but unfortunately are not able to get them out of the hospital until we have a few more caregivers hired. 

Pray that the application process goes quickly and that the women who are hired are strong Christians who will love these children.

            Also pray that the children who are in the hospital can survive until we can pick them up.  I am trying hard to get into the hospital to feed and hold the babes until we can bring them to the BC but am running into red tape and cynical attitudes.  Pray that hearts will be soften and the babies will not suffer due to the delay.  

Weekend in Nairobi - Part One

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last week or so...  We've been busy!  Last week, there was a prayer team in Nakuru for a few days and the Kenya field pastors, Frank and Sharon Martin (see hilarious picture of Frank and Precious), stayed with us for a few nights.  It was great having the prayer team here, and we shared some wonderful evenings with them, eating, telling stories, and praying.  Colleen took the team out to the Baby Center on Wednesday to pray for the babies, caregivers, and the local church.  HERE are some pictures of the prayer team at the Baby Center.

Thursday we left for Nairobi, the primary purpose of our trip was to get my work permit.  Before any trip, the Vanderhoofs always have someone say a prayer asking for protection.  On this particular occasion, Alice prayed specifically for “no adventures.”  Well, sometimes what we ask for is not what God has in mind for us…

In Kenya, most “highways” are not much wider than a two-lane country road in the US, except typically quite busy, hilly, and full of people making all kinds of questionable passes.  We were in our lane in the Vanderhoofs Subaru when a Land Rover whipped out going the opposite direction and tried to pass a line of trucks.  The driver noticed us, started to pull back in, but then decided to gun it and go for the pass…

But unfortunately, it was never going to make it.  So for a brief (terrifying) second, we found ourselves heading straight for the Land Rover at 50 mph.  Jim quickly swerved off the highway, we skidded sideways on the dust and rocks, and ended up back on the road facing the wrong direction.   After collecting ourselves, Jim pulled off the road even though all traffic going both ways had stopped.  And then an amazing thing happened… people started pouring out of their cars, matatus, etc. to come make sure we were ok (and congratulate Jim on his amazing driving skills).  People were praising the Lord and everyone wanted to shake our hands.  It was surreal, but a really incredible thing to witness. 

We are so thankful that the Lord protected us, even though we got the adventure we had prayed not to have – we truly believe that God works all things for His good, so we know that he will use this experience for His glory.  Maybe having our lives flash before our eyes was a good reminder of how precious our time on earth is.  Or maybe He allowed something drastic to happen so that we could praise Him with some Kenyans.   

The rest of our trip was uneventful (by Kenyan standards) and we had a great evening with our host, Robyn Moore, a pediatric nurse who has been in Kenya for years and works in orphanages all over Nairobi (see picture of Wittigs & Vanderhoofs with Robyn).  She has some great stories to tell!  Friday we went to the immigration office, or as it is known in WGM circles, the “house of pain and suffering.”  Again, prayer helped us to get through quickly, so I received my work permit and Colleen applied for her dependency pass.  We have been eagerly awaiting this permits, because it means we can get into the National Parks for resident rates!  Friday afternoon we did some shopping since Nairobi has items that can’t be found anywhere else in Kenya, and a few stores that are essentially Wal-Marts.  Colleen found some fruit roll-ups and won’t share them with me! 

I’ll let Colleen tell you about the rest of the weekend, since it was more up her alley, so look for another post coming soon. 

One scripture that we’ve been thinking out lately is from Galatians 6:9&10 which says, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Therefore, as we have opportunity, let s do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."

First thought: it is amazing that the reaping of the harvest depends completely on us... it will come, as long as we do not give up in doing good.  What a promise!  Second thought: "as we have opportunity" is such a subjective phrase, but I think we all know in our hearts when we have opportunity to do good.  I would encourage us all to plan ahead so we are prepared when those opportunities present themselves - we usually don't have to look very hard if we are thinking about.

Thanks for reading, and for your prayers.

A few from this week

We can't believe how the weeks are flying by!  We will try to post more soon, but here are some photo albums from last week or so.

Get together at the Vanderhoofs - The Ngata church council came to the Vanderhoofs after church and we had a great time interacting... and watching them play croquet!

Isaac and Elizabeth get adopted! - Three of the kids from the Baby Center were adopted this week, and Colleen was there for 2 of the send-offs.  Here are some pictures of Elizabeth and Isaac with their new familes.

House, Office, Kids, and Football - A random sample from the end of the week, including some of our house and Cason working in the office.  People were beginning to wonder if he did anything over here, so we had to get proof he is working hard with Cate and Florence on all of the finances.  :  )

Please be praying for the three kids who were recently adopted, as well as for God to be preparing more good Christian homes for the children.  This week Colleen is going with the Baby Center social worker to the local hospital to get some more abandoned children - hopefully up to 8!  Having that many more kids will put the Baby Center at capacity and they will need to hire more caregivers.

Isaiah 61 -
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
       because the LORD has anointed me
       to preach good news to the poor.
       He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
       to proclaim freedom for the captives
       and release from darkness for the prisoners...