Painting #4

cravings of a human heart
16x20 Acrylic on canvas
New painting for sale $50.00

Donate today and your gift will be doubled!

Our deadline for payment for the Kenya trip is supposed to be December 1st. Thankfully we got an extension. :-) For anyone who donates today, November 29th, your gift will be doubled! An anonymous donor has offered to match your gift up to $500! God bless you all for your support!

Quotes from Kenya

I write frequently to a few children in Kenya, including my sponsored child, who is 10 years old. A couple of weeks ago, I received a letter from him and from another boy who is 13. They do not know each other. They do not live close to each other, but both of them wrote about the same concern: hunger. Please read their quotes and pray for the people in Kenya. Thank you!

"My country is experiencing hunger and famine. Pray for us." -Mutuma, age 10

"In our area many people are harvesting corn and planting potatoes. Though some places in Kenya, people are dying of hunger. Please pray for my country. My father is working hard to provide basic need in our home. The [Compassion] project is also assisting us with food. I want to share with you a memory verse from Luke 9:58. It says 'and Jesus said unto him, foxes have holes and birds of air have nests but the Son of Man has no where to lay his head.' Thank you for supporting me. God bless you." -Kiuna, 13 years old

If you are interested in sponsoring a child, please visit www.compassion.com
If you are interested in supporting our trip to Kenya in March, please consider donating on this website.
Most importantly, please PRAY for the people in Kenya, for our safety, and that we will serve Christ and make Him the focus of our trip!

Thank you so much for your support!
Love in Christ,
Elizabeth

African Children's choir

so last night we went and saw the African Children's choir perform. They were incredible, and great stories of changed lives! It made us even more excited about the Kenya trip! Elizabeth took this video of their last song.

Our hope

I love this passage. God is in control and we know that one day there will be no more death, all the tears will be wiped away, disgrace removed and all that call on the Lord - the poor, the needy, the least of these will be guests at the banquet of the Lord. "The world isn't out of control, and the future isn't in our hands. Sorrow, injustice, and death itself will one day end. The future is portrayed as a holy feast, with people from all the nations gathered at the banquet of the Lamb of God."

Isaiah 25

New International Version (NIV)

Isaiah 25

Praise to the LORD

 ¹ LORD, you are my God;
   I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
   you have done wonderful things,
   things planned long ago.
² You have made the city a heap of rubble,
   the fortified town a ruin,
the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more;
   it will never be rebuilt.
³ Therefore strong peoples will honor you;
   cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
⁴ You have been a refuge for the poor,
   a refuge for the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the storm
   and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless
   is like a storm driving against a wall
 ⁵ and like the heat of the desert.
You silence the uproar of foreigners;
   as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,
   so the song of the ruthless is stilled. ⁶ On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare
   a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
   the best of meats and the finest of wines.
⁷ On this mountain he will destroy
   the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
 ⁸ he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
   from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
   from all the earth.
            The LORD has spoken.
 ⁹ In that day they will say,
   “Surely this is our God;
   we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the LORD, we trusted in him;
   let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
 ¹⁰ The hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain;
   but Moab will be trampled in their land
   as straw is trampled down in the manure.
¹¹ They will stretch out their hands in it,
   as swimmers stretch out their hands to swim.
God will bring down their pride
   despite the cleverness^[a] of their hands.
¹² He will bring down your high fortified walls
   and lay them low;
he will bring them down to the ground,
   to the very dust.

Safety, prayers

Friends, as we are beginning the process of getting ready for Kenya in March please pray for us. Pray for our safety especially. A Travel Warning has been issued for Kenya due to incidents relating to violence and terrorism in certain areas. It sounds like U.S. Citizens are the most at risk, although many others have been injured, killed, and affected by the attacks. Most of the areas that are listed as warnings are located along the border to the east next to somalia, but there have also been some incidents' in nairobi where we are meeting the rest of the compassion team. Please pray for direction, guidance, safety, and that if God wants us on this trip he will provide a way.
If you want to read specifics on the travel warning please click this link: Kenya Travel Warning
Thanks for your prayers, talk to you all soon.

Michael W. Smith visits Kenya

It's a windy and cold thursday night, but I'm sitting in my heated house, with my macbook and a slice of pizza. I know I take things for granted. I don't have to worry about where I'm going to sleep, or whether I can fill my belly with food today, or whether I have clean water to drink. These issues don't even come up in my day to day life, but there are millions in Africa without access to clean water, without education, without clothes to wear. “At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. 
We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.” 


I also really liked this quote:  " Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work." - Mother Teresa

photos

I have some talented friends. One of them goes by the name of Sir David Swidrak.  Elizabeth and I had a chance to take some photos with David for the blog. The photos look great. Thanks brother! You are a killer photographer and my hero. The end. 

My Trip to Honduras

In 2009, I was able to meet my sponsored children in Honduras. Here are some photos from the trip!

A Little About Kiuna

One of the most important things about sponsorship is letter writing and encouragement. Not all sponsors are able to write to their sponsored children, so they allow other people to write for them. I guess it's a type of "team-work!" One sponsor donates money, while another sponsor does the letter writing and encouragement. This is Anthony Kiuna, a 13 year old boy who I have been writing to since June 2009. Chris and I will be able to meet him in person when we go to Kenya in March! Unfortunately, Kiuna lost his mother about a year ago to cancer. His father is employed as a butcher. Kiuna's chores involve caring for the animals. He enjoys soccer and other ball games.

Kiuna lives on the plains of Ndeiya, home to approximately 100,000 residents. Typical houses are constructed of dirt floors, mud walls and iron sheet roofs. The most commonly spoken language is Kikuyu.The regional diet consists of maize, beans and potatoes. Common health problems in this area include malaria, typhoid, upper respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, skin diseases, dental problems and malnutrition. Most adults in Ndeiya are unemployed but some work as day laborers and earn the equivalent of $14 per month. This community needs employment opportunities, scholastic materials and tuition assistance. Sponsorship allows the staff of AIC Nderu Child Development Center to provide children with Bible teaching, retreats, medical care, health education, field trips, tuition, uniforms, educational materials, career guidance and a mentorship program. The center staff also provides seminars for the parents or guardians of the children.

My Sponsored Child, My Passion

This is my sponsored child, Anthony Mutuma Kiogora from Kenya. He is 10 years old and I have sponsored him since March 2008. His parents were married, but his father died of a disease called Malaria, which is a potentially fatal infection of the blood caused by a protozoan parasite called Plasmodium. An infection occurs when a person is bitten by a mosquito that carries the parasite. Each year 350-500 million people are infected with malaria. More than 80% of these deaths occur in children, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa.

Anthony lives in the hills of Meru Municipal, home to approximately 100,000 residents. Typical houses are constructed of dirt floors, mud walls and corrugated iron roofs. The primary ethnic group is Wameru and the most commonly spoken language is Kimeru. Anthony writes to me in English. The regional diet consists of maize, beans, bananas, beef, rice and potatoes. Common health problems in this area include malaria and typhoid fever. Most adults in Meru Municipal are unemployed but some work as day laborers and earn the equivalent of $60 per month. This community needs improved housing and recreational facilities. My sponsorship allows the staff of KAG Meru Town Child Development Center to provide Anthony with Bible teaching, medical exams, health education, recreational activities and school fees. The center staff will also provide counseling for the parents or guardians of the children in the center.

God will not abandon us

I've been reading this book Unshaken by Dan Wooley, which I highly recommend. I am about 27 chapters into it. It is based on a true story about a Compassion worker that was trapped under the rubble of the Hotel Montana in Port au Prince when the earthquake hit this past year. It's interesting because the way to book is written, it switches back and forth between Dan's struggle to survive under the rubble in Haiti, and the falling apart of his marriage due to his wife Christy's depression. In both stories, he shows us that although God may seem silent, distant, or missing all together - God never abandons us. Dan Wooley experiences God's presence in overwhelming ways throughout his story, and challenges us to not give up and keep seeking God no matter what the circumstances may be.

During the past few years I have had times where I wanted to end my life. I had lost a lot of weight due to my anxiety and depression. I wasn't eating. I was down to 105 lbs, and had checked myself into a hospital to get help before all was lost. It was exactly the way Dan describes it in his book. Everything seemed hopeless. God was distant at times, but then God would remind me to keep seeking him. And he began to show up in the most unique ways. People would randomly approach me at work to tell me they are praying for me. They didn't know anything about me, they just felt led to come to me and say a prayer with me in the middle of the Kroger produce department. I would struggle with my thoughts, horrifying and demonic at times, and God would work through different people to give me hope and encouragement. At one point a local high school student who I had never met before came up to me and started to pray in the name of Jesus. He then went on to tell me everything about myself. He knew the issues that I was dealing with, the thoughts that I couldn't get rid of, every specific detail about my life. He told me not to worry, that God told him to let me know that he loved me and would never abandon me. After he finished praying and talking to me, he gave me a huge hug, said "God loves you bro" and walked off. All of these experiences make me wonder why I doubt sometimes.

...And then I turned to the book of Isaiah 4:2-6 and thought to myself "Whenever we face difficult times it's easy for us to think that God has abandoned us." We shouldn't think of good health, security, and pleasure as the end goal. We should focus on God's character and know that he will take care of us and that he is all that we need. God seeks our good in everything, even when everything seems hopeless and lost. Looking back at my experiences over the past few years,  I'm just reminded of how true this is. Sometimes it takes time to see how God is working in our lives. Sometimes we have to back up and look at it from a different angle. All I know is that if you want to experience God at work in your life, keep seeking him and he will meet you where you are.