Cat Pollock Writes

Today's blog comes - for a second time - from team member Patty about our second day out doing ministry in the community around Kilimani. God is doing some wonderful things here, and the prospect of leaving makes us all very sad. The physical needs of the people here are great. There is extreme poverty, no running water, and for the most part no electricity. Medical care is scarce and we have been asked to pray for many sick babies and a few injured and sick adults. There has been a recent drought which has caused some of the local crops to fail. Grass for grazing the cows and goats is very sparse. We are also finding that the spiritual needs of many people in the area are great. We are encountering a number of people of the Muslim faith. While a few have been willing to at least listen to us as we share the story of salvation and some have even decided to put their faith in Jesus, most will not listen to what we have come to say. Then there are people we come across who s

After much teasing about how he's gotten out of writing a blog so far, today's post comes from Pastor Rich himself. Praise God He is in complete control. Yesterday it rained all day, not allowing us to go out to the community as we had planned. Instead of complaining, the group praised God for the rain that was greatly needed by the people. Meanwhile, we had a wonderful life lesson in Foundations study material (developed by Campus Crusade for Christ). It was a wonderful time of sharing and fellowship. We were joined by Meshack, a deacon in the church and an interpreter for one of our groups. I became very ill after the study, so I was praising God I was not required to go out into the community. Today was a nice day with the sun shining. We went to the church for praise and worship before going out into the community to witness. We left the church in three groups at 10:30am. I remember thinking "We are getting a late start" because we were to return by 1:00p

My turn! So, one piece of advice the Adventures in Missions staff tried to drill into our heads before we left for The World Race was to let go of whatever expectations we might have of what would happen while we were out in the field. It was hard to embrace back then, but the advice served me well when I was here two years ago, and it has made the many schedule changes on this trip so far much easier for me to handle. Ministry has looked nothing like we thought it would so far, and what was supposed to be our first day out in the community was not immune to the changes. The series of rain storms that kept us together at Kilimani yesterday kept us at the guest house today. Since Gladys (Pastor Julius's wife) has been with her sister since before the funeral on Saturday, Pastor Julius went home today to check on the house and the children. His niece, Raheema, has been staying with the children because Pastor Julius is staying with us. While he was gone, Meshach (one of the

Today's blog was scheduled to come from Rich, but, alas, has become a second post from Mary Jo because they're married, and the blogging assignments just work different when there's a spouse who could write in your place.  Aaand the shorter posts seem to have gone out the window. Oh, well. This is a mission trip. Things you don't expect to happen do happen all the time. Anyway, read on about our first official day of ministry. Well, while we don't seem to get enough sleep (the humidity is oppressive and seems worse at night), the Lord seems to revive us every morning. As usual, we had a great meal. Then we headed out to church and exchanged a lot of greetings on the way. The service began with prayers and praise led by a delightful young man named Emanuel. The Holy Spirit shined through his eyes and his smile and his exuberance. He also acted as interpreter for much of the service. Rich (he's my husband, so I don't call him Pastor Rich) gave the

Today's post comes from team member Mary Jo. While yesterday was scheduled to be a ministry day, things happened that changed the schedule. Read about what it ended up being here. We woke up at about 8 o'clock this morning after mostly a sleepless night here. It's very hot and humid here. We enjoyed a quiet morning and a great breakfast. After that, Patty and I walked up the road and met a few of the local people; one of the women was weaving a mat. Pastor Julius's niece passed away last week at the age of 23 of unknown cause. We attended the funeral, and I can say I have never seen so many people at a funeral before (around 800 people attended). The service was held at the family home was of the young woman who passed. The women were very colorfully dressed in their customary clothing, but nearly all were barefoot as were most of the children.  We were honored guests, though they did not know us but through Pastor Julius. Everyone greeted us and welcomed u

The outline for today's post comes from Doris, another member of our team, about our day yesterday, and I've put it together in blog form. More than a couple of paragraphs, but should be worth the read. I thought some of the differences in life here were worth sharing, and I figured out I needed to use the notes app on my phone to write posts, so longer posts may be the rule anyway from this point forward. Yesterday was our shopping day.  We started the day with prayer. Breakfast was chapati, muffins, coffee or tea, and a bread that is a lot like sopapillas. We ate at 9am, and after breakfast we sat and talked with Pastor Julius and Pastor Amon until it was time to go into town. As we talked, Rich asked about what a "wadi" prayer was. He thought he'd heard it said as we stopped to pray in the parking lot. As it turns out, what was said was "word of prayer", and Rich heard it wrong. At 11, we went into town to exchange money and shop. Along t

Since there are five of us, and we all have different thoughts and perspectives on what we are seeing and experiencing, I've asked my teammates to write a paragraph or two about their day. Today's paragraph - about our day yesterday -  is coming from Patty, Rich's sister-in-law. Read and enjoy! On our first full day in Kenya we traveled by van to visit the family of Pastor Julius. He and his wife Gladys were very gracious and gave us a warm welcome. The children were very glad to see us and they were pleased with the gifts that we brought them. They were fascinated with my camera and as soon as I took their picture they wanted to see the picture on the camera. I could spend many hours contrasting the many differences in our cultures, but the biggest thing we have in common is that our families are what is most important.

Good morning! Kenya trip team has made it safe and sound to the land of Mombasa! I thought that I would try to provide little snippets of the trip a we go along so you all could follow us a little bit on our journey. They won't be long, as I'm writing on my phone and the app I'm using seems to enjoy crashing every few minutes, but I hope they are insightful all the same. Happy reading (starting next post)! -Cat