FROM THE FIELD . . .
Friday, July 27, 2012
We are here!
(Departed Nashville Wednesday at 2pm to Chicago…
onward to London by 6am and landed in Nairobi uneventfully at 9pm–though 3 bags didn’t make it, that was pretty good odds out of 16, considering the air traffic of the Olympics!)
We arrived at our guest house at 11:30 pm Thursday night where dinner was waiting. And though it may not have been all we were craving after a long day of cuisine de la aeroplane, we were grateful for the hospitality, and I was reminded to take every opportunity to fill our stomachs along the way. However, the absence of a warm shower after 24 hours of travel, was the beginning of many more reminders to come that the expectations imposed on our lives by the western world are often times over-indulgent and can easily rob us of seeing the world the way God sees it. Self-sacrifice is an afterthought, if even a thought–period. So, we have set out as a team for the next 3 weeks by kicking our usual (blessed) standard of living to the curb and are asking God to trade filling our stomachs and fixing our eyes on material things, for filling our hearts with the things that break His and fixing our gaze on our roles in His Kingdom.
Allow me to briefly introduce our U.S. team as they will be blogging “from the field” as well:
Allie Smith joined Her Passion in September of 2011 and is the Strategic Development and Project Manager for Africa. (Allie was a missionary to Zambia for one year where she taught school and started her own non-profit).
Raeanne Everts is the Assistant Director of Her Passion ministries and marked her first year in June. (She joined our team after working on Young Life staff in Atlanta.)
Also with us is Her Passion Board Chair, Sandy Barnard, and her 2 daughters, Lauren, 18, & Sophie, 9; Chris Benton, Founder of Urban Harvest who will be preparing fish farms with one of our partners in Uganda to provide self-sustaining opportunities; Geny Kate Gurley, and last but certainly not least (though they are the littlest) my 3 kidos, Maddie,9; Annabelle, 7; & David 5.
Our African partners function as an integral part of Passion Partners. Peter Abungu is the Passion Partners Kenya Director. And Fred Kaddu is the Passion Partners Kampala Director.
I invite you to follow us on this journey. . . we have a packed itinerary and would love for you to get a more detailed glimpse of where we are headed & how God is using Passion Partners to impact the world for Him! Here are some of our stops:
KENYA-
~ the slums of Kibera & the J-project
~ the Maasai city of of Suswa (Candice teaching)
~ a site visit to the Siaya Community Development Initiative where we will be:
~ conducting an open-air clinic at the brand-new Ohuru Medical Clinic
~ dedicating a new water well at Usingo Primary School
~ initiating a feeding program at the Usingo Primary School
UGANDA-
~ opening the new Wakiso Restoration Home for girls in Kampala
~ And several stops where Candice will be teaching.
Well…since I started writing this, we have completed our 2nd full day, and there is a lot to share already! I’ll hand it over to one of my teammates who can take it from here!
Thank you for following us into places “far greater than I ever asked, imagined or dreamed” (Eph 3:20) we would go. I pray this will challenge you into your own roles for which you were Created, the opportunities which you are Called, and the places you are Commanded to go!
For His Glory,
Candice