Just About Home

Greetings from Kenya!

I just wanted to write you all a quick update to let you know that we have arrived safely back in Nakuru after some fruitful ministry out in the bush. Of course, there were problems and setbacks and a van that almost rolled over (with half of us in it) but those stories will be told when I'm not so tired or far away.

The time we were able to spend with the Samburu people was very special and we are all talking about how we are already missing the Kenyans that worked with us as part of our team or the children we did taught and sang with. We have lots of pictures and experiences to share with you.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and concern. We have a few more days here, mostly of rest, which is nice. We'll be joining friends for lunch tomorrow, visiting another missionary's ministry, spending half a day on a safari, and then having a meal at The Carnivore before we fly back home.

I can't wait to see you all- we are missing you and were very encouraged to be able to read so many comments from you, especially you, St. Lucia team. We look forward to hearing how your time went there!

Truly blessed,

Tony and the Team

Off to Africa

Greetings from Kenya!

We are here, and we are safe, so thank the Lord for that! We ran into quite a few problems along the way as far as flights go, but God showed us who was in controll and got us here, even though it was about twelve hours later than we had first expected. We are doing a fine job at getting adjusted to the schedule and we all got a good night's rest on the very first night, which is unusual, but good!

Things are going well so far, but today is when we really get into it. In just a few hours, we will be leaving for Samburu District, where we will spend the next two weeks. This is where the "roughing it" begins. So please be praying for safty during travel, there and back, and then please lift up our ministry.

Our first week out there will be split between two different locations, and then the second week we will be at Nkiseau, where Eric (and MBC!) have already been doing some fantastic minsitry and have reached the people there in huge ways. Eric says they keep asking when I'll come back, and I'm glad that I'll be able to see them again, and live there for a week. Its amazing the progress that Eric has made there, and God is the only one to blame for that amazing work! Please pray for those people, as well as the other two locations we'll be visiting.

It won't be for another two weeks before you hear anything from us as far as I know, so I want to leave you with a blessing: thank you so much for your support, concern, and interest in what God has been able to do by brining us all out here. We are blessed to be here, and I hope that you are blessed by this report! I can't wait to see you all again and tell you how it went!

Deja Vu

Hello out there! I'm not sure who's still reading this, but if you are reading this right now, then I thank you!

I am here at Moody, in the last leg of my second semester, and have my eyes on Kenya once again. Please click on the image below if you want some more info. Thank you so much!

After Hours

This will be my last post for a while, and if you are still reading, then you rock. I've been back for over a week now, and am starting to re-adjust. It's been weird getting back into a schedule, where I have to preform actions/activities at pre-specified times. It's great to be back, and I am loving seeing all my friends and family again. It's weird having graduation next week because I feel like I've been out of school for years, but it should be cool.

I've posted a few more pictures, so a new one will be up every day for the next week or so. Other than that, I don't really know what else to say. I would like to make a recommendation: Go overseas. If you ever have the chance to go to another country, especially a third world country, take it. It will change your life.

Final Thought: Randy Alcorn, in Money, Posessions and Eternity, asks, "Why are we blessed?" That's a great question with a tough answer. What can we do with the time we have, with the money we have, with the things we have? We can consume it in our world of consumers, or we could use it in their world of need. And when I write 'their' I don't mean the African's, I mean other people. You don't have to look to Africa to see a world of need, you just have to look.

Wrap Up

I think we all know that it's true that you appreciate things more once you go without them, but it's a whole other business to experience it. While I loved my time in Africa and plan to go back someday, it feels so good to be back home. These three months have been the longest I've ever been away, and I now have greater respect for Eric and other missionaries, as well as our troops, who have left home to do other work. After we got picked up at the airport we went out to Toco Bell for lunch and I was just giddy about it. Free-refills rock. We're so blessed here. The important question to ask though, is "why?"
We seem to be doing well, adjusting to the time change, and I'm sure we'll be back to normal by this weekend. On Friday I'm taking a bus to Chicago where I'll get to meet up with Arol and my small group homies, and I can't wait for that. I'll be back in Minooka this Saturday.
On Sunday I'll be seeing most of you again, and I can't wait for that. I've missed MBC so much! In the mean time, I'll be taking my "How to be an American" classes and eating greasy food!



How to Be an American:
Lesson 1: Wear deoderant.

Time is up.

Tonight is our last night at Eric's house here in Nakuru. Tomorrow we leave for Nairobi, Sunday we go to church with Shane and his family, and that night we get to have dinner at The Carnivore, which we have been looking forward to since the trip started. On Monday, we fly for almost a day, but arrive in Minnesota only a few hours later.
There is a lot going on in my head right now. I miss my family and friends, and I can't wait to see them! But I also love the time I've had here, and want to stay. When Bryan asked me if I thought the trip has felt long or short, I couldn't decide. I feel like I've been away from home so long that this is home just as much. And that's where I found something very cool...
In Africa, one of the major problems faith faces here is the strong presence of the prosperity gospel. You know, health and wealth preaching that has no real biblical truth in it, but uses verses out of context. Here is one that they often use:

"I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) [prosperity preachers like to ignore the persecution part] and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first."
-Mark 10:29-31

The prosperity preachers will tell people that God promises to give them nice houses, cars, money, and things like that, but their first mistake is assuming that their listeners have in fact met the requirement for the fulfillment of the promise stated in verse 29.
What we have found is that God has fulfilled that promise in our lives. I think about all the homes I have here; I know that if I ever needed to, Shane and Kara would be more than happy to open their home to me. I have a home with Eric here in Nakuru, a home at the hope center in Narok. I have a home in Wamba, and I have homes in the area around there. One women from Nkiseu wanted me to stay with her and live at her house. And I have friends in Sudan whom I could stay with in the strange and unusual case that I would find myself there needing a place to stay. The point is that we have seen that verse in the flesh. I left my home three months ago and have since then had many different homes and have met many new family members. I have even had the privilege to help some join the family. And to think: I haven't even known Eric for a year's time, and he has since become one of my best friends! I can't say that we faced many persecutions in light of what I know other Christians have had to go through, but we have had our share of rough times and undesirable circumstances during our trip. But it's easy to thank the Lord for these as well when I read that verse and realize that those too are promised.
So that's the verse that speaks to my heart and one that I feel represents what this trip has meant to me.

What I really want to see is for that verse to become the one that represents my life.


And so with that attitude and the launching pad of these amazing three months behind me, I'm springing forward into the next big adventure: college. I know that my time at Moody will be rich and I am anxious about starting there. I have every intention to peruse vocational ministry after Moody, most probably abroad, and with the contacts and friends that I now have here, Africa looks like a prime prospect for future, full-time ministry.

So I want to again say thank you for all of you who have supported me and who have shown consistent interest in what I am doing. It's been very encouraging (and humbling) knowing that so many people have been affected by what started with a simple e-mail less than a year ago. It's been one great year, and I'm grateful for your part in it. Keep in touch, and stay tuned; I'm sure there's more to come.

Let's not do that again. Ever.

Our time in Sudan is now over, and we have returned to Nakuru by bus. It was an extremely long trip, and we are sooooo grateful that God got us here. We were really wondering sometimes...
The bus from Yei has a report time of 3:00 a.m. and goes all the way to Kampala. So the trip started with nine hours worth of waiting at the bus stop, and a little sleeping on the bus before it left. Then we began a 15 hour ride to Kampala where we stayed the night (a very short night). On our way however, a tire popped while we were on a good road, moving pretty fast. It didn't just pop though, it exploded, and the whole bus filled with nasty back dust and debris. Thankfully, the driver was able to maintain control and we only had to wait a half hour or so to get the spare on. The next morning we woke up bright and early to be at the bus stop at 6:00 where we took another bus that brought us here to Nakuru in 17 hours. On our way we had a problem with the fuel line, and we were stuck on the side of the road for three hours! That bus ride was the worst thing we've had to endure so far on this trip. But again, we are thankful that God brought us back here, and we are happy to be back.
Our time in Yei was nice. Each afternoon we went out with the pastor there to do small group bible studies. Her name is Guna, and she's really cool. We hoped to do more, but the only translators we had to use were some of the older kids and the teachers, all who were in school till 3:00. Especially after lunch, we had little to do till 4:00 when we would go out, so we were pretty bored. We helped where we could with the work they needed done around the place, but there wasn't a whole lot of busy work, more work where you needed to know what you were doing. And if any of you guys know how good I am at building stuff, then you wouldn't want me working anyway. But we helped when we could, we hung out with the kids, and got to share the word. I finished a book called Money, Possessions, and Eternity by Randy Alcorn, and really liked it. I think it's a book every Christian needs to read, so go read it. It is so challenging, and it is so cool.
And so far, no malaria! It can take time before it shows up, but we are hoping it won't. We had some other funky things going on though, but it seems like we are all back to normal again.
With less then a week to go, I have found myself thinking about home more and more. I so look froward to being back.