Hard at Work

Update from Kirk: Two of the team members cooked with the feeding program....Kirk's Team worked construction all day digging dirt for the foundation of a new school building at Eriri.....Beth's team worked with the students today.....They got to deliver 20 goats to ten special needs families and pray with them. Long day and eating dinner now.

Highlights and Pictures (from Cindy Ullrich)

Highlights of the day:
- admiring God's creation of the beautiful Segera landscape
- singing praise and worship in Swahili
- listening to and watching Matt preach God's Word
- seeing my friend Regina and having her baby cry at first sight of me. Lol!
- visiting with our sweet and precious friend Faith Karimi
- realizing that I just happened to sit at the same small group our sponsored child Stephen was in and seeing him smile when I taped his hand
- seeing continued growth in the community. A soccer stadium is even being built which is AMAZING!
- seeing God's blessing on the community

Quick Update through Text Message

The team had a great day! Met sponsor children, went to church and held a youth rally. Kirk said he is well and the team is doing great....just a little hard to get them back on the bus at the end of the day! That just means they are building relationships and don't want to leave to go back to the hotel. Keep praying for health, safety and traveling mercies.

Meet the team

Nick Rimato- "olive gardens biggest fan"

Nick Gibson & Roman Sebesta- "the 2 old men"

Kathryn  & Beth Hill- dynamic duo

Baylee Lanier & Laura Weaver- Gansta Girls

Laura Weaver & Margaret Weaver- Sisters for Life

Sara Curtis & Joanie Flores- thriver & survivor

Mary Mitterling & Kristin Henderson- twinkies 

Carlette Madary- the nurse 

Ben Madary- athletic director 

Chris Watson- our fearless leader

Conner & Al Percle- father/son team

Beth & Caitlin Ullrich- photographer & mafia queen

Final reflections

We needed one final blog post about our trip, so I asked each person to give me one word to describe their experience this week. I thought this list was a good summary of our individual experiences. 

Roman- breathtaking

Baylee- indescribable

Nick G- joyful

Laura- eye opening

Kristin- touched

Conner- awesome

Ben- hakunamazing

Chris- refreshing 

Nick R- amazing 

Kathryn- good

Beth- amazing 

Carlette- insightful

Beth U- thankful 

Caitlin- grateful 

Mary-intimate

Sara- Lovely 

Joanie- engaging 

Al- supercalafragilistic

We are now making the long journey back home. Back to reality. Back to our families. Back to our schedules and routines. Back to the demands of everyday life. So now what? What's our next step? How will our lives look differently because of our experience in Kenya? You'll have to live closely alongside us to know. :)

I hope that you will get to experience God on a trip like this someday, but most of all I hope you live expecting God to move in your life everyday. 

Last Day in the Community

Hey this is Conner.  Today was a amazing day (as usual).  I got to spend some time with my sponser child, Joyce, and played frisbee with an 8 year old boy who learned and out played me. On the ride home we listened to music and I really felt God moving in my heart.

Jambo! (Hello)

This is Crisboh.  I praise God for the wonderful week that I have had with Brazos Pointe Team. I have seen God's love through them. People giving their lives to Christ. Team sharing their testimonies to the community. Praying for their needs. I thank God for seeing the unity of the church. May God bless Brazos Pointe Church! 

Asante Sana 

(Thank you very much)

410 Trip Leader

 After a long day of being sick in the village all day God showed me that beauty can be had in the hardest situations. While sitting on the bus for the better part of the afternoon my sponsored child found me on the bus and sat next to me telling me how sorry he was that I felt bad, so he just sat there and kept me company. And we talked and had a great time. It sounds incredibly difficult to believe and even hard to admit, but as painful as it was I was soo blessed to have been sick today, God used that to teach me a lesson that otherwise I wouldn't have learned on my own.

-Ben

Amazing Day! Lots of stories!!!

This is Baylee! This week so far has been unexplainable. These people are the most precious people I think God could ever place in our lives. My life is changing and God is the reason why. And I'm so excited to see what tomorrow has! See ya lata alligator!

hey, it's Laura! Kenya is absolutely incredible. I want to stay here forever. the kids are perfect little angels and I'm going to take all of them home. today is the first day we haven't gotten stuck. whoop whoop! tomorrow is our last day in the village and I'm going to cry the whole time. I've cried everyday I've been here. #emotionalgirlprobs. but this has been the best week of my life. I absolutely love it here. 

It's Joanie...

"Trust and obey, trust and obey. For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey." 

I remember standing in the pew at church as a little girl and not really understanding what that song meant. But as I've grown I've come to better know what that song means. Trusting is a hard thing for me. Mostly because I'm a Type A, controlling, OCD neat freak who likes things her way thank you very much! But that's not what God calls us to do. He tells us to trust Him because his plan is better than ours and we will be blessed by obedience to Him. Africa has been on my heart for awhile and when  I felt the call to come to Kenya this year I knew it would take a lot of trusting and obeying. First I had to trust I would even get here, I wasn't sure how I would pay for it. But God showed up in a big way and it all seemed to work out perfectly. Then, I had to continue to trust and obey when people were skeptical of me coming. My poor parents were terrified of me coming, fearing the worst. There were many times that I wanted to give in and just not come so they would be happy. But I knew that I couldn't do that, I would always regret it and that God had a purpose for me coming and would be my protector. And if you know me at all, you know I'm an indoor girl. I like my manicures and air conditioning, cable TV and my curling iron. I'm a girly girl through and through, not the type you would think to be trekking through the mud and dust of Kenya. More than once friends told me they were worried about me. Ummm yeah, I'm a little worried about me too. But I'm happy to report that I'm not doing that bad! Granted on the trip I've been dubbed the "survivor" because mostly I'm scrambling through and finding that a pretty smile and a hair flip doesn't really get you very far here like it does back home. I've been scratched, fallen in the mud and climbed into the mud huts just like everyone else. Maybe not with as much grit, but I do it. And while doing all the walking and falling and climbing, God has been continueing to teach me this important lesson: that when you trust and obey Him, He will bless you beyond your wildest dreams. So here I am in Kenya, still rocking my cute outfits and glitter Toms. I even found a way for my curling iron to work! See? Blessed by obedience once again. :-) 

Hi this is Beth H. I have tried to blog 2 other times this week and it has been lost. Third times the charm, right? 

I am very overwhelmed by the love that I feel from the children at the schools we visit. The joy that I see on their faces is enough to make your heart melt. 

The afternoon was a wonderful experience. We went to a home and had chai. The amazing part is how honored the family was to have us as their guest and to be able to learn how she makes tea over a small fire in her mud house. We were able to pray with the family. Her request was to pray for everything. 

I can not believe that we only have one more day at the schools. I am sure tomorrow will be an emotional day.

This is Kathryn. This morning my group sang songs and taught numbers and letters to the Kenyan kids. When one of the girls was having trouble with her alphabet another girl took my copy and helped her. It was so refreshing considering the kids usually fight each other over us. Then in the afternoon we went to Agnes's house and she made us some wonderful chai ( tea). No one is ready for our last day with the kids tomorrow.

Hi! It's Mary. It's been incredible watching our team work together this week. I have loved watching them through the lens of my camera and putting together their blogposts. Our evening share times have been very special. The relationship that BPF has built with this community has made a huge impact in the lives of our friends here in Kenya. Visiting Africa has been a dream of mine for a long time. I will never forget this trip. Sitting in a mud hut on a wooden bed and being served tea was overwhelming.  How is it that I have been chosen to live in America and so comfortably? My heart is so full! ❤

Jambo!

It is such a blessing to be back in Kenya. It was really special to spend time with a little girl, Mercy, that I met last year. Last year she introduced me to her mother and had me take pictures. She made me promise to send them to her. On this trip I was able to fulfill my promise. Her face was filled with so much joy and happiness as she looked at the pictures of her with her mom, us together, and a picture of my family. She held onto those pictures as if it was her greatest possession. 

Sunday my group and I walked 2km (1.3 miles) to church (one way). Reflecting on the journey it's hard to imagine that the people living in this community walk so far for water, school, and church. Sometimes even barefoot. I am honored to be apart of their lives.

Bwana asufewa! (God is Good)

-Beth Ullrich

Hi! It's Caitlin, 

This Is my first Mission trip/visiting Kenya and its been amazing! I've made a few very special friends at the Mbogoini primary school. My favorite part of this experience is having the kids run up to me and hug me! can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!