American Citizens, this line. Welcome Home!

I never thought the US Immigration Service would hire impersonators to work for them, but that big man in the green jacket and golf hat at DFW airport sure did sound like James Earl Jones! His greeting sure has a nice ring to it - Welcome Home! I always enjoy my travels, especially my international ones, but it is always good to come home - to know that I have a home to come back to. There is something to be said about belonging somewhere - whether that be in a family, a church, a city or a country. It's a basic human need that God created us with and, oddly enough, one that can never really be satisfied while here in this life. I'm always reminded as I travel that even though Texas feels like home, it really isn't. We are all foreigners here - those of us that belong to the family of God, anyway. We are here for a visit, and then we get to go home - our REAL home - to be with our Father. I just thought the airport welcome felt good! I can't wait to here those words from God - Welcome Home, Son!

We had a great trip to Kenya and really saw God at work through the people we invested so much time in during our stay in their country. One of the highlights was visiting the Maarifa Chrisitan Resource Center - Kaloleni and seeing what God is doing for youth in that area. We traveled with two of my good friends, pictured above, Jeremiah Muramba and Duncan Ziro to visit Fredrick Kaingu, the director of the center. Jeremiah leads a similar organization in Malindi, Kenya and Duncan is the new coordinator for Maarifa Christian Resource Center - Kilifi. MCRC-Kaloleni has built a permanent building for activities in the area and we helped by building some much needed benches for the center. The structure still needs completing - a concrete floor, plaster on the walls and other items, but they have made a great start and hope to host the first area wide youth conference during the school break in August.

One of the things that is different, which you can see in the picture, is that nearly everyone has a cell phone now. 9 years ago when we moved to Kenya, cell phones didn't exist there. I imagine 50% of the households have access to a phone now - even those in remote village locations. I had 5 bar service from the national park and called Jill to let her know I was watching a couple of lions (just so she'd be jealous!) It really is amazing and phone service is one of the techonologies that helps economic development progress extremely rapidly. Now if they'd just fix the roads....

These are the board members of MCRC from left to right - Fredrick Kaingu, John Kenga, Duncan Ziro, Daniel Kahindi, Mike Thethe, and Luganje Nyale. They are providing some awesome leadership for this initiative in Kilifi and Kaloleni and I really anticipate seeing God do some amazing things through them. Just a little more information on MCRC: it originated from two different directions and has merged into one organization. The Kilifi project began while I was in Kenya when I moved my library into town and opened my office for the general public to have a place where they could come and access all sorts of educational materials - from community health, to agriculture to biblical studies - for free. We called it Mijikenda Christian Resource Center and it was open for anyone who wanted to come. Pastors and leaders from the community did come and spent many hours preparing lessons and studying in our office. When I left Kenya, the board voted to change the name. They felt Mijikenda, which refers to the people group who live in the area, was too limiting and exclusive. They chose the Swahili term Maarifa, which means knowledge. I admit - their name is MUCH better than mine! This is a project they have valued enough to staff and maintain on their own, with little outside help, after I left. I am super excited to be a continuing part of this project and we have determined some great ways to support their ministry into the future.

The Kaloleni side of the project began while I was in Kenya as well. Our mission team, along with local church leaders, determined that a regionally positioned center for youth ministry would really promote church development into the future. 3.5 acres of land was purchased and slow but steady progress has been made to develop that land since 2000. Fredrick Kaingu has spearheaded the project and its now positioned to lead youth and promote leadership development in local churches. It was decided by the local leaders to combine the two projects as MCRC and the future of them both looks bright indeed.