A few more pictures to let you be part of our adventure!

Time for some pics! Over the next several days, I will be posting some pics of our God adventure! Some of these are some different audiences, our first drive to a ministry site (notice how refreshed we look!) and some typical Kampala afternoon traffic!

We are all home safe and sound. Yea God! What a great greeting we all received at the airport! I am sure it was really nice for everyone to sleep in their own beds. Janae, did you hug your toilet?!

For those of you that like numbers and statistics, here is what our journey looked like:
Our journey was for 21 days which consisted of 4.5 days of travel, 3.5 days of down-time, 13 days of ministry
- In those 13 days, we saw over 13,000 people
- 2144 people personally professed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
- $6000 worth of equipment was left for the Sports Outreach staff to continue the puppet ministry
- 65 people were trained in using puppets as a ministry tool
- 33 different groups were served including:
- 6 orphanages/shelters
- 9 slum areas
- 3 villages
- 11 schools
- 2 juvenile remand centers
- 2 churches
- 27 different programs were given
- 12,000 wordless bracelets were given away

Continue to check this blog for the next several days as we will try to post some pics for you

Hey all!

Don called from London! I appologize for not having the information on where they are staying! It was a last minute booking, but Don forgot to give me the info...so in case you are wondering...They are staying at the St. Giles Hotel in downtown London...not the Heathrow hotel! He said they were all heading out to China Town for a chinese dinner to celebrate Joy's 17th birthday today!!! Then they were going to the Lion King show!!! They will have an awesome time, I'm sure!

He told me they celebrated Janae and Joy's birthday at the Carnivore restaurant in Nairobi on their last night there! Complete with cake and the Carnivore staff singing Happy Birthday! Janae turned 14 years old! For those of you who don't know, the Carnivore is a famous restaurant serving exotic meats raised just for the restaurant. I had ostrich, zebra and elan when I was there last. Don's also eaten crocodile. They have a huge fire pit in the center of the restaurant with huge swords/skewers of meat roasting over the fire. As long as the flag is up on the center of your table they will keep serving you different meats. They bring the sword of meat to your table, place it on each person's plate and slice off the amount you want. I didn't like the zebra as I kept thinking I was eating horse meat! The ostrich was excellent. Don said the crocodile was greasy.

London is 8 hours a head of us. They won't be back to their rooms until late and they will leave early in the AM to fly home. If you'd like to leave a message anyway, you can call 011-44-207-300-3000. Tell them the name (they all are sharing rooms) and they should be able to ring that room.

See you at the airport tomorrow night!!!

Male and female lions relaxing in their territory...the Masai Mara Game Park!

Don called Sunday after Josh and I had just gotten home from church. The connection was terrible. He couldn't hear me well, but I could hear him, so he just began to talk and I wrote as quickly as possible. Josh and I had plans to go hiking with Uncle Tim and Popa Dale for the day, so I didn't post the info. Late last night when I was finally able to post, I discovered Gary had already posted, so I went to bed. But this morning I decided I'd post some of the things Don said that Gary hadn't been able to mention. So here goes...

As Gary said there was a vast difference between the slums of Kampala and the slums of Nairobi. Not only in size, but in the spiritual feel...opression and darkness reigned in Nairobi. Don said if you gave a child a water bottle in the Kampala slums that child would share it with his friends. Not so in Nairobi, they would fight over it hurting each other. It's very rough in the Nairobi slums. Surrvival of the toughest, meanest and strongest. Franklin, who grew up in that slum, has only been working there for 2-3 years. There's so much to do. Don was so happy to be able to talk about he and his wife and what they are doing in the slums in front of Franklin's church when Don and the team were introduced Sunday morning. This will give Franklin credability, respect and hopefully the help he needs. Don said the Nairobi slum...Mukuru was overwhelming and depressing.

Garrett said "It is so emotionally draning here, but God shows up and shows us the miracle of his salvation each time. These people are an unreached people group all their own!"

There were a couple of drunk men in the area, which "freaked" out Jubilee and Kristin. Jubilee said later she was so glad for the "BIG" boys who are on the team! Theo, Eric, AJ, not to mention the adult men...Don, Gary, Jim Band, & Jim B.

Kristin shared how she began to judge that drunk man, but she clearly heard God say, "Don't judge. He is my creation! I love him!"

Samantha said, "I want to always be doing ministry, because I want to be experiencing God this way everyday!" Don mentioned she was sharing Christ with a man in the Yaya Market in Nairobi when they went shopping.

Both Hannah and Janae agreed that they appreciated home, their beds, 3 meals a day and two loving parents so much more now!

Ruth has always known that she is good at serving. "I like to serve, but I find it hard to talk with people." So Ruth shared Christ with 2 Africans on her flight from Entebbe to Nairobi!!! Way to go , Ruth!

Don finished by saying how proud he was of these JNB kids. "I have pushed them hard, worked them hard and they haven't given up...they haven't quit! They are an awesome group of kids!"

They are at the Game Park now and I pray they have an awesome, relaxing time seeing a lot of the amazing animals that God created! Pray for safety as they travel back to Nairobi and onto London, then Chicago and finally Portland, Oregon!

Have a happy 4th of July!

Hi everyone - it is Monday morning and we are off to the Safari today. Everyone is busy packing up to get ready, have a quick breakfast and off we go to see God's beautiful creation. It has been a phenoenal experience here in Nairobi. We told you about our first day here. Saturday was a hard day for everyone. There are not enough word to describe what the slums are like. Miles upon miles of tin roofed shacks, garbage pilkd everywhere, streams of sewage flowing everywhere and hundreds of thousands of people living in these conditions.. Friday, as shocking as it was, you felt like you could make a difference. On Saturday you wondered where one would even start. So much depression and oppresion. The darkness was everywhere whether you were in the day or night. But we know that we brought glimmers of God's love and light wherever we went. Some smiles came to the faces but nothing like Uganda. We have to be reminded that it is not about how it makes us feel,but what God is doing through us. Christ said we would suffer with Him, though our suffering is nothing compared to what these people experience each day. Sunday was a bright spot to our time. We had the wonderful experience of going to church with Franklin (Sports Outreach staff person here, who himself grew up inthe slums) and his wife, Lanette, and his 2 year old daughter, Natalie. It was a Pentecostal church - need I say more?!! What great worship and we all really enjoyed, and benefitted from the preaching - and I mean preaching - from the Pastor - or should I say Bishop. He talked about God's Spirit and its power being iside each of us. It was definitely a message we all needed to hear. Then we were off to one last slum for a Sports Outreach feeding program. Here a woman has started an orphanage of 32 children where there is a school as well. Now try to picture a home and school for 32 childen and "mama" in about `1700 square feet. 12 children sleep in a 6x8 room. But it brought hope once again. Here a woman was making a difference in the lives of these children, making an eternal difference for them all. It was a great reminder for our last ministry stop. My hope is to pu ttogether a booklet of our evening sharing times for everyone to have and maybe share with your supporters. You will be amazed at what God has done in and through us all. Which by the way, Samanatha brought a man to the Lord at the opern market yesterday. That too was a reminder that we are always on a missions trip no matter where we are and who we are with. Gotta run. I am sure if your children knew I was doing email, they would send their love. I have to admit, it is nice not having all the electronic things around. gary.

Hi everyone - it is Monday morning and we are off to the Safari today. Everyone is busy packing up to get ready, have a quick breakfast and off we go to see God's beautiful creation. It has been a phenoenal experience here in Nairobi. We told you about our first day here. Saturday was a hard day for everyone. There are not enough word to describe what the slums are like. Miles upon miles of tin roofed shacks, garbage pilkd everywhere, streams of sewage flowing everywhere and hundreds of thousands of people living in these conditions.. Friday, as shocking as it was, you felt like you could make a difference. On Saturday you wondered where one would even start. So much depression and oppresion. The darkness was everywhere whether you were in the day or night. But we know that we brought glimmers of God's love and light wherever we went. Some smiles came towait to go again next weekend. Thanks for reading! G'night, God Bless 21 Can't wait to go again next weekend. Thanks for reading! G'night, God Bless About Me Name: Each New Generation Location: Oregon City, Oregon, United States Raising up Christ-centered leaders to disciple the generations to come. View my complete profile Links Google News Edit-Me Edit-Me Previous Posts A few more pictures to let you be part of our adve... Time for some pics! Over the next several days, I... We are all home safe and sound. Yea God! What a ... Hey all!Don called from London! I appologize for ... Male and female lions relaxing in their territory... Hi everyone - it is Monday morning and we are off ... Hi everyone - it is Monday morning and we are off ... Back in civilization! If you call being able to g... Pastor Gary sharing the Gospel message in front of... The children of Gulu, Uganda.I just spoke with Do... Archives May 2006 June 2006 July 2006