Monday, June 2 - Lay-Over in Paris - Travel to Airport

Dear Friends and Family,

We boarded the plane for Dallas/Fort Worth last night at 11pm!  We all tried our best to get as much sleep as possible on the plane, but it was difficult!  Thank you Lord for Tylenol PM!  We landed safely here in Paris at 6:20am.  We are now waiting to board the plane at 11:30am to be home at 2:55p.  It is an 8 hour flight!  YEE HAA!  Cannot wait to see everyone.

Walking off the airport into Paris is truly culture shock.  We went from one extreme of a third world country and stepped into Channel, Starbucks and more Duty Free Shopping.  We all feel like we are in a dream.  I think the biggest obstacle our team is going to be faced with over the next couple of days is adjusting to the experience we all had for the past 10 days together.  Many times we shared with one another what our life will be like once we get back to our world.  We will be forever changed because of our experience, but how?  How will we be changed?  What will be different?  Our worldview of things has shifted so dramatically - for the better!  Now what?

We will each answer this question differently.  We will each respond differently to circumstances when we get home.  How will we respond?  Our prayer as a team is this passage from the Bible.

Philippians 2:1-11 which speaks to the unity and bond of Christ that only comes when we focus and fix our eyes on Christ - the author and perfecter of our faith.  Life will forever be different for this amazing team, and if we respond with Christ as our example, then He will receive all the honor and glory.  IT IS ALL ABOUT GOD and His movement.  Might we join Him on the journey!! 

Here was our final picture at Naomi's Village - which will be hanging in my office for years to come!  Thanks for your prayers and look forward to being home in 12 hours!!

Keith and Cottonwood Creek Team

Saturday, June 27 - Morning with Mwi'Hangiri & Afternoon with COSA Soccer/Naomi's Village

Hello Friends and Family,

Our last full day at Naomi's Village.  It brought many exciting opportunities for our team as we revisited Mwi' Hangiri and hung out all day with the children at Naomi's Village.

Our morning began in focusing our attention on Romans 12:1-2, which says, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."  After hearing the ruling by our Supreme Court decision, our hearts were all heavy here in Kenya for our country.  We prayed for the US and committed our day the Lord - Not conforming to the pattern of the world, but being transformed, and the day was tremendous!

Morning breakfast with the children, followed by traveling to Mwi' Hangiri for recreation, crafts and worship!  We have fallen in love with the people in this compound.  Take a look at the pictures we took as we spent time together.  We continue to pray for restoration for our friends.

Lunch at Naomi's Village - Mark, our chef, has been amazing!  COSA Soccer Club took up most of the afternoon.  Seeing Pastor Mark bring out all the new soccer balls for the kids was fun to watch!  These kids are extremely talented.  Almost 90% of the kids are from the community.  It is a tremendous ministry for Naomi's Village.  

We ended our night with MOVIE NIGHT with the children, followed by our very own bonfire and share time.  God has done a work in each one of our lives this week, and our hearts were able to open up together and reveal the work of our Lord!  Praise God - he is SO GOOD!

Please STOP right now and pray for us as we travel home tomorrow after morning worship.  It will be a long ride home.  Our plane leaves Nairobi at 11:05PM and we arrive home in Dallas/Fort Worth Monday afternoon.  We loose 8 hours (by our clocks) in the travel back home.

From Kenya/Naomi's Village to you - We love you and cannot wait to see you all and share what God is doing here and has done in our hearts.  See you Monday!  

SO GOOD!  Keith and Cottonwood Creek Team

Friday, June 26 - Safari in at Lake Nakuru

Dear Friends and Family,

Our morning began at 4AM!  Yes, 4am in the morning we all woke up to load our 2 buses for a 3 hour trip to Lake Nakuru National Reserve Safari.  Our team were troopers to get up so early for this day of adventure!  And man, was it an adventure.  I will not write much at all, but let the pictures speak for themselves.  It was a "once in a lifetime experience" for all of us and we were and are so grateful for the opportunity to see God on display!  The only thing we did not see at the safari were lions and elephants, but we saw EVERYTHING ELSE!  Take a look.  What a day! 

Please continue to pray for our team as we visit Mui' Hungheri, the place our team worshiped with on Sunday to share Jesus through crafts and worship.  The afternoon is here at Naomi's Village giving out the soccer balls that were all donated by YOU!  What a blessing for the COSA Soccer Club.  So much opportunity to share Jesus and serve. 

Thanks for your faithfulness to pray and read.  Enjoy the pictures!!

Thursday, June 25 - Life Line Factory in Maai Mahui and Safe House AGAIN!!

Hello Friends and Family,

Our morning devotional focused our attention on Hebrews 12:1-2 which says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."  These verses gave us the encouragement to know that God was in control of our day and that those who have gone before us were cheering us on!  It also challenged us to acknowledge the areas of our life that would hinder us from experiencing God's joy for the day, to confess it, give it to God, and then RUN WITH PERSEVERANCE!  The course of our day was set and man, did God open unexpected doors for our team!

Our morning began with more cultural learning by going into the town of Maai Mahui to visit Life Line Factory.  What is Life Line?  You might have seen their products in Whole Foods, American Eagle and more. (to learn about this AMAZING life-changing factory, click here - www.lifelinefashion.org)  Briefly described, LIFE Line is a sewing project that improves the lives of a special group of women and children in Kenya. The group is called Malaika Mums and this sustainable program provides the opportunity for these women to earn an income for their families, support an education for their children, and create products that improve the environment.  Our time there was tremendous and very educational.  We almost bought them out of their product!  What a great experience.  Check it out!!

We traveled back home to Naomi's Village for a light lunch of Potato Salad, yum, then prepared for another great experience at Safe House in Naivasha.  Safe House is a shelter for seriously abused and abandoned children where children receive counseling and treatment in a child-friendly environment. It gives hope to children from as young as a few months old to about 15 years old.  Our team was greeted by these precious children much differently than on Tuesday.  They were waiting for us with hand shakes, hugs and HUGE SMILES.  We sang so many fun songs for them like "This Little Light", "Baby Jesus", "Jesus is the Rock" and many more.  Our Bible story was from 1 Kings 18 & 19 and we were able to share the Good News of Jesus by creating Salvation Bracelets.  We ended with a Balloon Party!  What an amazing time.  To see these children in transition who have lost everything - and I mean everything, to have the JOY of the Lord is humbling to see and experience.  Please pray for Safe House today! 

Back to Naomi's Village for a night of holding babies, praying with children and just loving on kiddos by playing basketball and football together.  We are spent, but cannot wait for our Safari tomorrow!  Cannot wait to share pictures from this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Blessings to you as you read and pray for us.  God is SO GOOD!  Talk to you tomorrow.

Keith and Cottonwood Creek Team.

 

Wednesday, June 24 - Cornerstone Preparatory School & Maai Mahui Primary School

Hello Friends and Family,

Time is flying by at Naomi's Village.  The activity of God through His Holy Spirit continues to teach us, protect us and lead us in many areas of our lives, as a team and the people in the Rift Valley Community.  As we began our day together this morning, we meditated on a couple of verses which focused our attention towards God.  We asked for God's power from Acts 1:8, which says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.", as well as Isaiah 41:13 which states, "For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you."  These verses held our entire group up as we faced the day together.

Our morning was spent serving here in Naomi's Village, helping sand a fence, organize the supply closet, hold babies and more.  Bob and Julie Mendonsa then took our team out to Cornerstone Preparatory School, where we saw the construction of the new school Naomi's Village is building.  Bob took time to give us the background and shared his vision for the impact this school will have on the entire Rift Valley.  To read more on what Cornerstone is all about, please click here.  It is worth the extra time. (www.naomisvillage.org/cornerstone-preparatory-academy)  Pictures are below.

Lunch at Cafe Ebunto, (Ebunto in Swahili means "I am because we are") was the most beautiful scenery I have ever experienced for lunch.  Julie Mendonsa took time to share "homecoming" stories to our table of when orphaned children have been RESCUED by the grace of God and brought into Naomi's Village.  Lives are being changed daily here.  Continue to pray with us for the work God is doing. 

Our next experience was one of those "be prepared for anything" moments.  We went to Maai Mahui Primary School, which is located next to Naomi's Village.  The teacher to student ratio in this area is 75-80 students to one teacher.  Children will wake up at 5:30am to walk 2 hours to school, spend all day at school, walk the 2 hour hike back home, study for an hour and go to sleep around 9 and repeat!  Can you imagine?  No parents dropping off kids at the curb - and honestly, there is no parental influence in the school at all.

Our team was invited to spend about 30 minutes in 2 different classes and just share cultural differences.  It was so intriguing!  We laughed a lot.  We then were asked to have sports and recreation prepared for the 800 kids?  WHAT???  800 kids?  We had planned for 30 kids.  To say the least, it was two hours of mayhem!  You have to see the pictures to believe is.  IT WAS CRAZY FUN!!  We taught them songs, how to say "Howdy Partner" and of course "Sic em' Bears"!  We ended up handing out candy before we left to every child.  It truly was a blessing to love on these kids!

So at the end of another eventful, Spirit-led day, all I can say is "So Good!"  My friend Bonface is our inspiration of hope at Naomi's Village.  Thanks for your prayers and for reading.  Keep praying and look for another post tomorrow!

Blessings to you all from Kenya - So Good!

Keith and Cottonwood Creek Team

Tuesday, June 23 - Day at Safe House in Naivasha and Kijabe

Hello Friends and Family,

Our team woke up fresh to take on another day in Kenya, opening our time together by reading Micah 6:8, which says, "He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."  It was a spiritually high calling to live this way today, and God humbled us again as we gave our lives to him and were able to see him work miracles throughout our day.

Not only was our morning devotional time highly impactful for our team, but our time in Naivasha with Safe House, a transitional foster care children's home, proved to be as meaningful and powerful.  Our main objective was to love on these 22 children, ages 3 to 17, with the love that comes from the Lord.  We use the vehicle of Vacation Bible School to help navigate our time.  You should have see the our team unite as we shared how God would protect, strengthen and provide for those He loves.

As Amy Page and Debbie Webb shared the Bible Story from Elijah, Jeni Maxton lead in Sports and Recreation, McKinley and Keith Tyler taught new songs of Jesus and our Craft Team made rain makers, you began to see these precious children's attitudes and demeanor change from being stand-offish to embracing us and laughing and dancing!  The bubbles were a huge hit! (see pictures below)  We have an opportunity to revisit Safe House on Thursday afternoon.  We cannot wait to go back!

No giraffes today, but we saw a herd of Zebras, and a bull almost ran us off the road.  A typical day in Kenya.  As we left Safe House we drove to Kijabe for an afternoon of culture learning - taking in the market and spending time with Bob and Julie Mendonsa.  Man, we love Bob and Julie so much!  They opened up their home to use for a short while and shared different stories of their live in Kijabe - like when the Baboons get too close to their home and shoot them with a potato gun!  AWESOME!!  And our ride back to Naomi's Village was like riding a ride from Six Flags.  We only got stuck once.  So Good!

We appreciate you taking time to read this blog and continue to pray for us daily.  It is changing lives!

Talk to you tomorrow.

Keith and Cottonwood Creek Team

Monday, June 22 - Naomi's Village Outing - Naivasha, Kenya

Hello friends and family,

And you thought that it could not get any better for our team, and then there was Monday!  We feel the Lord's presence with us as we serve and care for the needs of the children at Naomi's Village.  As we are serving, God is revealing himself to us personally as we are here in Kenya.  Our daily challenge was "Where are you?".  As God pursues each one of us, where are we with our relationship with Him?  Are we serving to serve or are we serving in response to a relationship we have with the Lord.  Are we allowing sin in our lives to distract us from God and his will for our lives or are we being honest with the Lord and laying our lives down for him in every way.  God is teaching us so much.  Please continue to pray for us as we seek the Lord individually and collectively!  This is a great team!

Our adventure today was taking the kids to Naivasha to spend the day swimming and playing at a special place reserved for us called Crayfish Resort.  It was a treat to spend the day playing with the kids and learning their names and laughing until my side hurt!  This was a special treat for all of us.  Cottonwood Creek paid for this outing for the kids, so thank you to the special donations that were made to make this happen for the kids.

On the way back, it was tremendous!  We experienced something that we would never see in the US.  We first saw a Hippopotamus in the lake as we left, then a herd of Zebras and Gazelles on the side of the road and..wait for it... 7 GIRAFFES!!!  It was mind blowing!!  Just driving along the highway to look outside the window and see them was outrageous!!  All of these animals were just roaming around free.  What a blessing to experience it!

Relationships are growing in our team.  Tonight with the kids playing Ultimate Frisbee and holding babies at dinner time just made our day complete.  We look forward to what God will do with us tomorrow as we visit Safe House and lead with VBS.

God is SO GOOD!  Thanks for reading and taking this journey with us!

Sunday, June 21 - Worship at Mwi'Hangiri

Hello Friends and Family,

It is Father's Day in the US.  Happy Father's Day to everyone who is reading this today!

As our team woke up, (now over jet lag) to the sound of the neighborhood chickens at 6am!  Waking up in Africa is very surreal.  The sun rising over the mountains are somewhat breathtaking over the Rift Valley.  (you can see pictures below)  Had a great breakfast and prayer time as we gathered to prepare for the day, reading Colossians Chapter 1 together.  Our prayer was - I WANT MORE OF YOU GOD!  And the next three hours changed all of our lives.

We met with Bob and Julie Mendonsa and and shared the story of the church we were about to attend.   Mwi'Hangiri (muee-hangary) is the name of the area/church/commune that we visited today.  Julie shared with all of us to be prepared for a worship experience that was distinctly different from the US, and she was spot on!  Honestly, it was one of the most unique, Spirit-filled, joyful celebration and worship time I have ever had.  I would say that for our entire team!  It is hard to put into words our experience together.  From the music, worship, praise, presentation, preaching and more, it was obvious that God was leading and pursuing us this morning. 

I desire to make these blogs a snap shot, so I will withhold details to this morning, but I truly have never been humbled by God's presence and the joyful hearts of the IDP people (Indigenous  Displaced Persons).  Our friends have been abandoned from their homes, forced to live in horrific circumstances, struggling to make a day to day living to survive, yet they were the most loving, caring and serving men and women I have ever met.  It was a life-changing time for us all.

Returning home for lunch to spend the rest of the afternoon with the orphans here on campus at Naomi's Village.  Our Craft Team and Sports Team planned fun and interactive activities for the kids for about 3 hours.  So Good!!

It's movie night tonight as we spend more time with the kids and then have prayer time and devotionals in their dorms.  WHAT A DAY!

Please continue to pray for us daily as we seek God and follow Him and truly live our the prayer of - I Want More Of You God.

Thanks for reading our update.  So Good! - Keith