Coming Home!

In a few hours I board a plane to come back to Washington. As I sit here, I am amazed at how quickly these three months have passed. I am so thankful for this time, for the relationships that have formed and what the Lord has been teaching me.

Saying goodbye to all of the people here has had its challenges. It is not appropriate in Kenyan culture to cry. Knowing this, I was praying that God would give me strength not to shed one tear (which could only happen by the hand of God!). The church I was serving in hosted a farewell ceremony, as each person came forward to say goodbye I saw their tears and knew that God was giving me strength and the freedom to express how much each person has meant to me. It is hard to say goodbye to those to whom you've grown attached, especially when you do not know if the Lord intends you to ever see each other again, this side of heaven.

For the last two days (Monday & Today), I have been in Nairobi preparing to leave the country. I am so thankful for the mission agency I am with. Much of the time has been spent informally debriefing. As I get ready to leave, I feel prepared. Prepared to leave the country and prepared to come home, for their support I am grateful.

Although I leave tonight at 10:05pm (Kenyan time), I will not arrive to Seattle until late Thursday evening (Long days of travel). However, this means that I will see most of you on Sunday at church (well, that is if you are not camping over this holiday weekend)!

I am excited to see all of you and thank you in person. I also find myself looking forward to hearing what’s been going on for each of you these past few months.

May you each have a blessed week, and I will SEE you on SUNDAY!!!

Grace & Love,
Tami

God’s Peace

Marsabit Report

Last week was a powerful week! I traveled with a little over 70 Africans to Marsabit (Northeastern part of Kenya) for a mission trip to unreached tribes. As we were meeting with the local people, they didn’t know that they were Kenyans. They thought we came from Kenya to minister to them. This area of Kenya is known for violence; violence between two neighboring countries and between the tribes that converge in this spot. The message and hope we brought was that reconciliation and true peace is possible, only through the Lord Jesus Christ. Our team of 70+ was a demonstration of this reconciliation. We had almost all 42 tribes represented on our team, we had multiple countries, and we have both soldiers and civilians. Before we could minister, God had to work on our team. The first night there the soldiers began the process of forgiveness and reconciliation by taking responsibility and apologizing for all of the bad/horrible experiences people have had with the military/police. This then prompted the elders of each of the tribes to stand and seek forgiveness (and take responsibility) for their own tribes interactions with other tribes. It was a powerful way to begin the week. As the week continued, we provided medical camps, food distribution, door-to-door (more like hut-to-hut) evangelism and open-air meetings. The whole week I spent at the medical camps. Don’t worry, I wasn’t pretending to be a doctor… although many thought I was b/c I am white… I worked in the pharmacy with the drugs and with speaking to people individually. However, what I was told my most important ministry (after the fact) was smiling. Now, I like that ministry!!!

We are just about to loose power for the day… so I will make this short. I leave in an hour to head back up country for my last two weeks. I have come to love dearly these people and will miss them greatly. Please pray for strength as I say goodbye and that I have wisdom of how to best spend each moment I have left.

Thank you so much for joining with me this summer. I truly have felt encouraged and uplifted by all your prayers, emails and letters. I am so blessed to have each of you in my life!

See you all in a few weeks! Tami

Happy Friday!

This Sunday, we leave for our mission trip to Marsabit (an unreached tribe in Kenya). We have been hearing reports of some unrest that is happening in the area due to the conflicts between some neighboring countries. So I would love to add prayers for our safety (don't worry mom, they assure us that is will safe for us to travel and to minister to the local tribes). It is only that we will see some of the effects of the recent conflicts. Other than that, please join me in praying for the hearts of the people to be opened to the gospel.

Also, here is a picture of the house that I am living at here in Kenya. Don't let the wire fool you, most are for drying our clothes and not electricity. There is one wire shown that streatches accross the top of the picture that provides power to our house on Sunday mornings when we turn the generater on for the church service. Which means that I am able to charge my camera batery and my cell phone.

Yes, I did say cell phone. Even though I am far away from anything modern I get fairly good cell phone reception. It is a safety requirement for SIM that I carry it with me all the time. Since it is a kenyan cell phone and the rules here are different, it is free for me to recieve incoming calls. This has been a HUGE blessing, in that my family has been able to call me. To simply hear thier voices even for a few mins has been so encouraging!!! It is strange to have modern technology in the middle of rural kenya where life is like the late 1800's (or maybe even mid)!

I have recieved many questions about the elephants. To date, I have yet to wake up for any of the raids. Which is providing increadible amusement to my kenyan friends. However, one of my neighbors (Lucy & Daniel) have promised to take me into the forest to see the elephants when we get back from Marsabit. I will include pictures when that happens!

Everyone at CBC~ I miss worshiping the Lord with you on Sunday mornings. I pray that this Sunday as you meet with the Lord you truly enjoy offering a sacrifice of worship to HIM!!! I am looking forward to being together with you again in a few weeks!

Love, Tami