Posted by: Niki

Kenya.  Really?!  Kenya?… as in Africa?  Yip.  From Alaska to Michigan to Africa… and who knows where after that…  if you’re beginning to think we’ve lost our mind and we’re out of control that’s perfectly understandable 🙂 … we agree.

First we want to thank all of you who’ve joined us in prayer over the opportunity presented to us to move to Kenya for a year.  We are now bringing this fully public because a couple days ago the president of Extreme Response (ER), the humanitarian organization we’re partnering with, told us that we’ve been accepted as staff into their organization and we can proceed with the long list of preparations to move to Kenya!  We feel absolutely honored and privileged to have met and gotten to know the men who run this organization (and the gracious wives who support them).  We could definitely see ourselves serving with them for many years to come if the Lord leads.

Since this is our first blog post about Kenya let me briefly share how we got to this point of decision.  In October the president of ER met with our pastor here in Michigan and presented some specific needs around the world.  One of the needs he shared was concerning an orphanage in Nyeri, Kenya called Belwop.  They are in the process of trying to purchase a building that will house about 100 children, but it will need a lot of construction and remodeling before that can happen.  Our Pastor immediately thought of us and reluctantly shared the need with us. 🙂  My immediate reaction was giddyness!… then came the tears and fears the next morning.  The walk of obedience is so often accompanied by a mix of emotions!  Two weeks later we interviewed with the president of ER over the phone.  During that conversation he explained, “I had not planned on sharing about Belwop (the orphanage in Kenya) that day with your pastor… it just sorta bubbled out of me is the best way I can put it.”  We believe that is sometimes how the Holy Spirit works.  He brings things to mind and causes us to say them because they are timely and a part of God’s sovereign way of leading us into the good works he prepared for us in advance to do (Ephesians 2:10).  Less than two weeks later we had the privilege of meeting with the Chairman of the ER board for a few hours.  After this meeting both Ty and I felt quite sure we’d be moving to Kenya, but I must confess that I secretly desired for the Lord to give us a sign to confirm these plans and make them insanely obvious… I mean moving from one state to another was hard enough and the Lord had made it so absolutely clear to us that we were to do that.  But to move from one country to the other side of the globe?… is it too much to ask for a giraffe to run across the road, ya know… as a sign?  I know, I know… don’t judge me.  Alas, no giraffe.  But, the Lord did remind me of a series of dreams I’d had exactly one year prior.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t dream in 3-part series!  For brevity sake I won’t share the details, but while living back in Alaska I vividly dreamed about being missionaries on African soil and for three nights in a row the dreams continued where the previous one had left off.  I shared them with Ty and wrote the details in my  journal.  It was back then that we’d wrestled with the idea that God could be calling us to the mission field in Africa.  I was fearful and resistant then, but the Lord dealt with my heart and by the time this opportunity was presented to us He had prepared both of our hearts to say yes.  So, as the Lord has continued to incline our hearts towards this opportunity we just continued to walk through the doors being opened to us.  Our desire has been to say yes to what the Lord is asking us to do, but if this is not what He desires of us during this season of our lives then we ask Him to close the doors circumstantially and make that clear.

So, in March we are planning to visit the Belwop orphanage in Nyeri, Kenya.  This trip will require long days of research to figure out estimated costs of living for our family, spend time with the women and children at the orphanage, see the building they’re trying to purchase and what type of remodeling will need to happen, and basically get an idea of what it will be like to live there.

Hindsight is a beautiful thing sometimes, and so often we don’t understand what God is doing until we’re well down the road.  We have never doubted our move to Michigan, and more than ever we can see why it was that God moved us here.  We aren’t quite ready to say goodbye yet, but we trust that His ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9) and as I mentioned at the beginning… we are out of control… and that’s a good thing!  The words of a beautiful missionary in Tanzania ring in my ears, “I promise that whatever you lose, and sometimes the losses are great, you will gain in His presence.”  I am praying that God will transform my heart in such a way that I long for His presence in my life more than I long for my husband, children, comfort, material possessions, convenience, food, respect, beauty, or success.  Would you join me in praying that as well?