CA Team - Personal Messages

“Jambo” again from Kipkaren, Kenya! We are all well, having just completed a 3-day intense schedule of seminars we were teaching to the local youth (18-35 year-olds). In the coming days, we will join the youth in closing activities, travel to the orphanage in Ilula, spend one final day here helping in any way we can, and then depart to enjoy a safari.
While here, we have been learning a lot about the Kalenjin culture, the dominant tribe in the area. Kenya is comprised of many tribes, and the Kalenjin consider themselves one of the strongest. They are the main source of runners for Kenya, a relatively small country that rules the world of marathons and distance running. They are physically active, walking everywhere, sometimes great distances, as well as working their farms with very little technology and equipment. Needless to say, they are physically strong people, and love athletics such as running, volleyball and soccer. The local area is poor, with few graduating from college or university, as they are needed to work the farm. Most of them are farmers, scratching out a living amidst a drought, and since they depend on rainfall for irrigation, things have been especially difficult lately. But oh, can they worship! They love to dance and sing, songs lasting well over ten minutes each, and worship services regularly running 2-3 hours. Our ideas of “church” have been changed!
We ask you to pray for our travel arrangements as we return. Kenya Airline employees are currently on strike, and since that is one of our connecting airlines for our return trip, I ask you to pray that the strike would be resolved quickly, and if things do not improve, that we would be able to re-schedule our flights easily.
We are so grateful for all of you!

And now, as promised, each of us would like to send a message . . .

Hi, Babe! I sure miss you and the girls! God is doing amazing things in all of us. Can’t wait to see you and tell you all about it. To my support team, thank you ALL for making this trip possible. I feel so humbled to be here on your behalf and look forward to gathering together to show you and tell you everything I have experienced. May God richly bless you all! --Mark

Thank you for your prayers that have helped restore my health. We have received gifts here in Africa beyond what we all imagined. Hopefully we have planted seeds that God will nurture and build upon…. The Helmstedters

Bumblebeetuna! (hope someone gets that haha). Hey there to all who have been keeping up with us and leaving comments of support, keep ‘em comin! It’s so good to hear from home. It’s just been awesome here and I’m sad to think we are almost headed back (ok ok I won’t be sad to see a Starbucks again), but not yet, we are here and going strong! Oh. Happy Birthday to my sister Amber today August 15th! Love you, Bumblebeetuna!.......Amie

Hello from Christy, also known as Jepkigen (which means long awaited which refers to my birth). The trip has been amazing and full of new experiences. I had such a wonderful birthday; it was a great was to start a new year. Thank you so much for all your prayers and support throughout this journey. I can’t wait to be share in detail everything that has happened here we left LAX. Thanks again! Christy

Hey there from Sara, AKA Schom! Hello roommates, friends and family! Mom, I hope you had a wonderful birthday. I love you so much. I am immersed in the most passionate worship music and dance that I could ever have imagined. There have been many times I have smiled until it hurts! So many of the youth at the camp have opened up and shared their lives with us. It will be very hard to leave this beautiful place. Bwana Asifiwe (Praise the Lord).

Jambo or Hello from Kenya, This has been an amazing trip. I thought we knew how to worship being from CA, however they know how to worship in Kenya. I want to say how much I miss my sweetheart Sally and my kids Kali and Kyle. I have prayed for you guys everyday. God is stretching me in unreal ways. I feel so blessed. We have gone on several home visits and the kids at the orphanage are amazing. We have just finished our teaching, 9 seminars. Sally you would have been so proud of Natalie, she was preaching her heart away. I love you all and I love my bride - Todd

Hello everyone from Kenya!!!! Our team has had an amazing time here in Kenya. I feel so blessed to be able to spend time with all of the people here. We just finished our lessons, all 9 of them. Now we get to have fun with everyone here, playing sports and worshiping. Tomorrow we get to see baptisms and my 1st revival service. I miss you all (especially you mom and ka) and I am so grateful for all of the prayers and I can’t wait to show you all the pictures. Love Nat

First of all, thanks again to all of you who have been praying for our team, for the youth camp and for the Kenyan leaders here in Kipkaren. The last 10 days have been great. What fun our team has had. We’ve had a chance to be with the kids from the children’s home. We’ve been able to meet some amazing people and see how God is moving in this community. The stories are too numerous to mention here, but I look forward to being able to share with you all what we have seen. And we’ve been praying that what do here, the little offering that we have, will be used by God. Peace to you all, Eric PS – They have the best chai tea!

What an experience! There is no way that I could have imagined what we would see and do. We have taught 9 lessons each on subjects that were suggested to us by the camp leadership. I taught on forgiveness. Today we were told that a 21 year old male went to one of the pastors after our lesson and said he wanted to be forgiven and gave his life to the Lord. He had also been causing problems with the cooks here at camp. He asked if he could go to the cooks and ask them to forgive him. What a joy to hear a good report. Hey Jimmy, you are missed and wish you were here. Jeannie otherwise known here as Go Go which is Grandmother.

Hey everyone, family, roomies, friends! I miss you but I’m having an incredible time. I finally got my bag back which is a huge relief—thanks for your prayers. My favorite has been singing and dancing with the kids. I can’t imagine leaving… it’s going to be hard. God is humbling me and teaching me so many things. Please continue praying. Don’t worry, I’ll share EVERYTHING when I get home. Love you all, Renee