Harvest Update

                                                                               

     We wanted to let you know what is going on at our farm that is close to the AGC Baby Centre. This first picture is of the silage being made for the cows and for sale to other farmers. It has been a great harvest, God has been so good to us. What they are doing in the picture is mounding up the corn cuttings and adding molasses and microbes to create a high energy feed for the dairy cows. It will be covered and allowed to "cook" for three weeks then we will bag it. We are getting some guidance from a farmer who does zero grazing with dairy cows in Nakuru. He has been helpful in our future planning for our cows.

    This picture is of the actual cutting up of the corn stalks. The machine was brought from a farm in Nakuru. All of the corn was cut by hand and was hand carried to six piles in a six acre field. It only took three days for the entire process.
    The picture below is a close-up of the process.  The man that you will meet below, Emmanuel, was in charge of the process.  He pours himself into his work.  We are very thankful for him.





 















     A staff member we would like to introduce you to is Emmanuel ("Manu").  Manu is the Operations Manager at the Baby Centre.  He has been employed here for 7 months and holds a Diploma in Human Resources and a Degree in Finance and Banking.

Manu -- Operations Manager at the AGC Baby Centre

     Manu says "I love working here because it's an opportunity that God has given me to reach out and serve the less privileged in our society by showing them love and giving them a sense of family they have never had.  I find satisfaction when the kids smile back at me and also when they embrace me, this really breaks my heart."
     He goes above and beyond what is expected of him and is a huge asset to the Baby Centre staff.
    Thank you Manu for all that you do for the babies and for us.
     Please remember to pray for Manu and his role here at the Baby Centre.








   We thank you so much for keeping updated with us, and keeping us all in your prayers. God has been so good to us and we are thankful for His mercies new each morning.
   There is a lot more to come over the next two weeks, stay in touch.

Blessings,

D & D

Busy Days at the B.C.

    We had a very busy week last week. We continue to get used to our new environment and get settled in at the Africa Gospel Church Baby Centre.  Dana and I started working in the office Monday, getting to know the staff better and how things work in Kenya.  The staff are doing a very good job.  We are here to help them with better tools to do their jobs, and get more efficency out of what we have.  Self-sustainability is being used each day as a teaching tool.  The staff seem to be very open to the new ideas, it will take months to get some of the items implemented.  We are very encouraged.
    Dana has started working with a couple of teams already for next year.  We are excited to see so much interest in teams coming.  I have continued on working with getting project proposals together for the October Board Meeting.  I am excited to see the buy-in from the staff on getting these ideas off the ground.  We are currently working on fish farming, zero-grazing for our milk cows, and goats for meat. Please pray for wisdom in all of these areas.
    We also don't want to forget why we are here, the babies.  We currently have not posted much as we are still getting a feel for the rules of posting.  However we can say that things are very fluid here. There are many adoptions in progress, and we have taken in one infant, and we know of some more that will be coming shortly.  In the next several weeks Dana will be getting up to speed on where we are at with all of these situations.  We can say that God is moving in the lives of these babies and bringing the right people to us at the right time.
    This past weekend we were at Tenwek for the September Field Meeting.  This was our first Field Meeting since being on the field.  It was great to get to meet all of the other missionaries that we knew of but have never met in person.

     We are so blessed at the AGC Baby Centre with a wonderful administration staff and we wanted to make sure all of you knew who some of these people are.  So, in the next few blog posts, we are going to introduce you to them.   This way too you can pray specifically for our staff by name.

     Robert is one of the nurses at the Baby Centre.  He and his wife, Leah, live in Maai Mahiu, along with their three children, Joshua, 7 years, Esther, 5-1/2 years, and Ruth, 2 years.

Robert -- Nurse at AGC Baby Centre

     Robert has worked at the Baby Centre full-time for 9 months, but has been part of our community as a substitute nurse for nearly 2 years.  He retains a higher diploma in Pediatric Nursing.  He enjoys working at the Baby Centre and says “It’s a service, a calling, a ministry doing what it takes to achieve institutional goals with an aim of making tomorrow better than yesterday to God’s Glory.”

     We are very thankful to have Robert on staff and appreciate all he does to keep the babies and all of us healthy. 

    With all of the good news there are some things that you can be praying for:
     -  God's direction and wisdom in the next steps.
     -  God's hand in everything we do.
     -  Language school that we begin on Monday.
     -  Time to rest and to daily spend time with God.
     -  Health for us and all at the Baby Centre, and those family members we left back at home.
     -  Continued provision of prayer supporters and financial supporters.
     -  More volunteers and teams that want to come to the Baby Centre.
     -  Carson has started school so pray for him as he is in 9th grade this year and the day is much,
        much longer for him and there is a lot more work involved.
      We thank our dear children and families that have scarified so much by our being so far away from home and away from them.  And we thank all of our friends and supporters for their many sacrifices as well that allow us to be here.  Most of all we thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for all He has done in our lives and the lives of everyone here.

Blessings,
D&D

Settling in

   Well, we are finishing up two weeks here and we are starting to feel normal sleep wise and eating wise. We have all been in good health and we do thank God for that. We are also so thankful for all of the prayers lifted up on our behalf, that are felt each day. We had services at AGC Ngata today and we were able to greet the congregation there. It was a great time of fellowship, and we had several familiar faces to greet us.
   Carson was in a table tennis tournament with the youth at the Ngata church yesterday. It was a singles tournament, and he won the tournament. He is a champion on two continents now! It was a great way for him to meet guys and girls his own age.
   We had a very busy week.  On Tuesday, I traveled to Nairobi to drop off paperwork for the water truck that we are trying to get shipped over the the Baby Centre for the water business. I was also able to pick up our personal vehicle and drive it back to Ngata. 
   On Thursday I visited an urban farm where cows are kept in a zero grazing pen, and they also collected their excrement to create bio-gas. It is a great set-up and we look forward to getting some proposals together to see if we can move forward with this at the Baby Centre. I will be traveling back there on Tuesday for more research. We also visited a Tilapia pond and learned about how to get started with fish farming. We will be working on that proposal also.
   Dana attended a women's prayer breakfast on Saturday, it lasted over 6 hours. She said they had a great time. Carson and I went to the farm at Salgaa and helped in harvesting the butternut squash. It was a great harvest. It was the second harvest, and this time we collected over 200 squash.
   Also on Saturday I was told that a cow was giving birth at the farm so I went down to be a part of the event. Things did not turn out as we had hoped and the calf was still-born. It was very sad.
   So, we are very thankful to God for strength for the week. As we look forward to this week we look to a very busy schedule. Carson starts school tomorrow. Dana and I will start picking up our responsibilities in the office at the Baby Centre. We will also have a crew this week starting on the finishes on our home. On Friday we will travel to Tenwek Hospital for our field meeting.
   Please pray for Carson as he starts his new year. Pray for Dana and I as we start in earnest our new responsibilities. Pray for the Baby Centre as we work through all of these staff changes. We are very grateful for our new guards and guard dog, they make us feel very safe. Please pray for the Ngata area as they are still experiencing break-ins in the area. Please also pray for safety in travel, as many of you know the roads are one of the most dangerous places to be.
   Thank you for standing with us. Thank you for your prayers and your support.

   Blessings,
   D & D

Arrival at the Baby Centre!

     We arrived at the Baby Centre on Thursday, Aug. 23.  It was great to finally get here!! The Lord provides and knows exactly what we need each and every day, and He didn’t fail to come through on that Thursday afternoon.  Let me tell you the amazing things He did!! 
     When we arrived and got settled in our temporary apartment above the Baby Centre Staci the current director informed us that one of the toddlers, Faith, was going home with her new Mama!  Praise the Lord!  Her new Mama was so thankful and so happy to be taking her new daughter home with her!  This was such a wonderful blessing and reminder that this is what it is all about!  It’s all about the babies!  Thank you Lord for this reminder and blessing on our very first day!  

     That is not all God did that first day!  A mere few hours after Faith left with her new Mama, we received a new baby at the Baby Centre!  The police brought her to us.  God filled the spot that we had vacant from Faith leaving and filled it with another baby that needed to be here.  What an awesome God we serve!!  Thank you Lord for this other reminder of why we are here!  It’s all about the babies!!  Another wonderful blessing!  

  There are currently 63 babies at the Baby Centre.
     We have been in the process of getting things in order with immigration paperwork, phones, internet, etc.  These things can often take time.  We are getting along in the process though and moving forward.  We think we are good on phones and internet now, though the internet does not work consistently so there could be days that we are without service.  The immigration paperwork will take some time.
     We should be getting a vehicle this week sometime!  That will be a huge blessing as we have had to make many trips to and from town while trying to get settled.
     Many things have changed even since the last time we were here in 2011.  The area has sprouted up with new businesses near the Baby Centre and in Nakuru Town.    
     We will begin getting acclimated this week with our new jobs and the staff at the Baby Centre.  We know some of the staff, but there are quite a few new faces to get acquainted with. 

     My birthday was the day after we arrived at the Baby Centre, so Staci planned a birthday party for me.  She went all out and made a wonderful meal and cake and ice cream!!  I felt so thankful as I was missing our kids and families so much and it was a difficult day, but the party helped to make the day special.  Thank you to Staci, Wycliff, Gifton, Solomon, Eliana, Jim & Alice, and Dan & Carson, Wycliff’s Mom and cousin too, for making my first birthday here in Kenya a special one.  Love you all!!  I was blessed to get beautiful handmade cards from Gifton, Solomon and Eliana!!  Brought me back to when our kids were young and made cards for us.  It was so very sweet and touched my heart deeply.  I still missed everyone back home, but this was definitely a huge bright spot in the day.
      We also attended our first church service yesterday.  We went to Rehema Africa Gospel Church, this is the church where Wycliff serves as Pastor.  It is a nice church with lots of children!  We were warmly welcomed by the congregation and invited to attend there regularly.  We have a women’s prayer breakfast this Saturday morning that I will attend with Staci.  It will be a great way to get to know some of the women in the church.
     We want to thank everyone for reading our blog and staying updated with everything that is happening with us and our ministry.  Mostly I would like to take this time to thank Jesus our Lord and Savior for His abundant grace , mercy, provision, patience, and His unconditional love for all people.  We are nothing apart from you Lord.

 Blessings,

D&D

Safe Arrival!

     Hi everyone!  Wanted to blog quickly and let you all know that we arrived safely last evening in Kenya.  We had very good flights and had no problems with our luggage.  All 17 pieces of checked luggage made it!  We want to thank everyone for all their prayers for safe travel.
     Today, which is Tuesday, we had a day that was basically a day for resting, running errands, and checking things out.  We are staying at our good friend Robyn Moore's place, "Robyn's Nest", while we are here in Nairobi.  We thank her for her hospitality and willingness to have us stay with her.
     We went looking for a phone for Dan, and a printer for us to use at the Baby Centre.  Then we had a meeting with the gentleman here that we have searching for a vehicle for us.  He actually brought us a vehicle to test drive.
     Wednesday we have to do all the immigration paperwork and get our driver's licenses.  We are hoping to be able to head to the Baby Centre either late Wednesday or more likely on Thursday. 
     Also we want to say thank you to all that have been praying for us and all the goodbye's we had to say before we left.  If I was to be honest, saying goodbye to our three kids that we left back in the states was the hardest thing we've ever had to do.  Being apart is something that we will never get used to or like, it is really a difficult thing to do.  We just pray that the Lord will sustain us and help us to get through this difficult time.
     To our kids and family, know that we miss you so very much and the piece's of our heart will never be the same while we are apart from all of you.  We love you all so very much!!  To all of our friends and church family, we love you all too and will miss seeing you.
     Until we blog again, we pray for the Lord to bless you and keep you safe.

Blessings,

D&D

Good goodbyes!

     Yesterday was a wonderful day and a sad day for all of us. We said goodbye to most of our church family at our final service at NMC for the next two years. Pastor Dave did a great job as always of tying Biblical teaching in with practical ways to get engaged. He had told me on Friday that at our commissioning service he wanted to do things a little different than normal. Instead of us being commissioned by the congregation, he was going to ask me to commission the congregation. At first, I didn't really care for that idea. But, as we talked and I thought more about it, I saw Pastor Dave's wisdom in it. Ministry is never on your own, but is a team or "body" effort. We need the whole body to be involved in the ministry we are about to leave for. We are merely the hands and feet, Christ is the head, and our families and team members comprise the rest of the body. This is just the beginning of the mission, not the end. We are all called to engage in missions where ever God has placed us. We are also called to engage in missions both locally and globally, nobody gets a pass on this.
   We were blessed to have so many show us their love yesterday, it was a wonderful send-off. We were blessed to have all of our children, both sets of parents and all of our siblings present yesterday. It was a great show of support. We were blessed to have Deb from World Gospel Mission come to be with us yesterday also. We were blessed by the Acts 29 small church who took up a special offering to help with our shipping costs and a new printer for us. You will be able to read more about that in the newsletter.
   We will now spend our remaining days with family as we say goodbye to them. We will be leaving from the church parking lot at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday the 19th of August. We will then make our way to O'Hare where we will depart at 6:15 p.m. Indiana time and will land in Nairobi, Kenya at 2:00 p.m. on Monday Indiana time. There is currently a 7 hour difference between us and Kenya. It is 8 hours the rest of the year.
   Thank you to all who are a part of our team, thank you to all who came forward to say goodbye to us, thank God for Pastor Dave and his leadership, and thank you to the NMC staff that has help us greatly over the last several months.

Blessings
D & D

Three, Two, One, GO!

    We are in the final days here in the states. Time seems to be flying by. We have been able to share in many wonderful goodbye dinners over the last two weeks. They are great memories that we will cherish when we are gone. Our class Running the Race has been amazing and we will miss them very much. This Sunday on the 12th of August will be our commissioning service at NMC. This will also be our last time at church for two years. It will be a very joyous and sad time. We know though, that we have been called to the Lord's work in Kenya. We know that He is already there preparing the ministry for our arrival. It is only in the Lord's strength that we can do these things. Some days the tasks seem overwhelming, but that is when we remember who is on our team!
   Next week we will be spending all of our time with our families. Please remember them in your prayers also, as we will be leaving them all here.
   Remember Talia, as we leave her here at Bethel. Remember Nathan, Andrea & Mike as we leave them here. Remember our parents Harry & Nancy, Bev & Les. Remember our siblings Debbie, Dawn, and Steve as we leave them. We pray that none of them will feel abandoned, but know that we are merely an extension of the family in Kenya doing God's work and that they are a very important part of that ministry. Pray that we will be able to say goodbye well and be able to go in the peace of knowing that God is in control of all situations.
   The Lord has shown Himself faithful to us countless times over these last several years. We know that we can put our faith, our trust and our hope in Him!

Blessings

D & D