We're in London

It's 8:25am in London. We're halfway. I'm trying to get used to a different keyboard, so I may make mistakes. Plus I'm under a time limit. Chicago was real crowded and we were about 45 minutes late getting there, so we didn't have much of a layover. We have a 2 hour layover in London. Some of us got some sleep on the plane and others did not. In either case, we can rest up a bit here, then it's another 8 hours to Nairobi. British Airways is a top notch airline. We'll see when the next time we can update the blog.

The Interns

Interns with Dickson Masindano
The interns that work with Buckner are keeping a blog over the summer. There are 2 entries from the ones that will be working with us. Check out what they have to say: Click here They look like an enthusiastic group and experienced now that they've spent a couple of weeks in Kenya. We look forward to working with them.

It Begins With A Vision

A long term project such as this mission trip has to begin somewhere. This one began with a vision by a pastor with a heart for missions and a heart for his church. He did not see them as two separate things, but intertwined. But he is also a man of action. At the CBF of Missouri Assembly in 2005 he heard of the call of missions to Kenya in partnership with Buckner International. He contacted Naomi and myself about going on a "Vision Tour" to Kenya with Buckner. Of all the people in church, Naomi is perhaps the only one who had ever heard of Buckner, but he did not know that. We went, we came back, we reported what we say. But it did not stop there. Bob Webb formed a Task Force for us to determine "What Now". It was determined by the team that we should go on a mission trip to Kenya in August 2008. Bob did not make the decision, did not lead the task force, did not do the planning. He knew that it had to be a church decision, not a pastor decision, in order to be successful. But he's been as supportive a pastor that anyone could ask for. He would have loved to have gone as a part of the team, but could not due to scheduling. But that did not lessen his support. Now, come Wednesday morning as we gather at church with others for prayer as we depart for the first mission trip abroad for this church, who better to lead those prayers than Bob. You see, instead of "doing", sometimes the best thing a pastor can do for his church is "seeing". It would have never gotten off the ground without that.

Commissioning Service

Thanks to Scott Collins with Buckner for giving us words of encouragement. We asked Scott if he could give a short video clip about upcoming trip that we could show in our worship service. He was more than happy to work with us. The clip about is one that he provided us. We now have less than 3 days to go. We are concerned about Erin Lewis who has come down with an illness. Ask God's healing so that Erin can gain strength for the long flights aheard and the working with the children.

Out Team, Ready to be Sent

Vacation Bible School kids got to see this short video clip yesterday. This was to give an idea to the childre who was going and some of the planning that had to take place. The music in the background is a portion of "Here I Am" by MercyMe. I had published their video of this song on YouTube earlier.

Vacation Bible School

This year, the church's Vacation Bible School is using their mission offering for the mission trip. In order for the children to understand what the mission trip is all about, I created a series of video clips. The first one shows the trip of going from Memorial Baptist Church in Columbia, Missouri to Kitale, Kenya. It shows that it is indeed on the other side of the world. It also shows of what the Seed of Hope orphanage looks like.

Packing Party

Last Sunday was our packing party. No, we were not packing personal items to take on the trip, yet, but getting all the VBS supplies, 46 full sized soccer balls, 51 small sized soccer balls, medical supplies, etc. We tried to distribute them evenly between the 9 duffel bags the members will have as one of their check in bags. We wanted to put the VBS supplies for a particular day together, but had to make sure that the bags stayed within the weight limit of 50 pounds. Everyone pitched in and helped. With a little of 2 weeks to go, the part of preparing makes the trip even more real.
This picture shows us organizing the bags. We listed everything that we place in the bags on a sheet of paper for that bag.
Here's the packing crew after a job well done.

Masai Mara videos and pictures

Wildebeest Crossing the Mara River into Mara Triangle from Joseph Kimojino on Vimeo.

We found these videos on a website linked from a blog. This is the Mara Triangle Blog maintained by a conservation agent. To see more of the videos he took, click here. Additionally, they have some pictures posted here. Kenya is a beautiful country and the animals are amazing. I'm ready to go now,

100 Days of Prayer Calendar

Probably the most important ingrediant to a successful mission trip is prayer. Not only the prayer of the team members, but others. Many have asked, "What Can I Do?". You can do what Dickson Masindino said when asked what we can do for the orphans of Kenya. "You can prayer" was his immediate reply. Thanks to Linn Lewis who created this prayer calendar. Now it's available online. You can click here. There will be a permanent link on the right side of this blog with the other links or you can go to the main webpage for this mission trip.

Even more Planning.....

With 4 weeks until we leave, there is still some last minute planning that needs to be done. The Medical Team met and went over details. Also the VBS Team has met and gone over their details. Sometimes parts of plans need to be changed as you find out that something doesn't work quite like the way you thought it would. That's why is was good to try things out. There's a realization that you can't be "married to" your plans knowing that they may need some adjusting and completely thrown out if need be, but it's still better to be prepared than not. We are grateful for the leadership that we have on both teams. We know we are in good hands.