Tag: Kenya

New Wheels!

Option 1: Watch the Update

Option 2: Read the Update

It’s here! Over a year and a half ago our friend, Randy, while visiting us in Kenya told us he wanted to throw us a fundraiser. We had never done a fundraiser, but once we mentioned we would need to prepare to replace our 1997 2wd RAV4, Randy ran with it!

This summer, while on furlough in the U.S., Randy and some other Maryland friends threw us a fundraiser for our car fund. Old and new Maryland friends generously donated. We shared that story with you all and friends from Ohio and Indiana chipped in. After just a few months we reached our goal this Fall! We are so grateful for so many of you who heard about the fund and stepped up big time!

Patrick has spent A LOT of time researching cars, tracking down who really has the car, getting cars inspected by our picky mechanic, and starting over again when he invariably didn’t like the mechanical condition.

But we were able to find something that ticked all the boxes, was affordable AND was in great condition! And here it is: A 2007 Toyota LandCruiser Prado! It’s a former UN vehicle, you can almost imagine UN painted in black letters on the door.

It’s an 8 seater with a roof rack so we can be as helpful as possible, whether to bring ministry coworkers and supplies to remote schools, chauffeur visitors or simply to carpool a bunch of teenagers to youth group. We’ve already taken visitor friends on a safari through deep mud (watch below), chauffeured 4 MOHI visitors from their hotel with all their luggage and safely delivered 5 teens from youth group to their homes.

The steel bumper and bars around the car are there to both protect expensive car parts when off-roading or in the crazy city traffic of Nairobi.

Ultimately it’s a utility vehicle. It’s a strong, economical diesel with a manual transmission (because apparently driving wasn’t challenging enough in Kenya anymore). We still have the 2009 Subaru Forester that you all provided for back when we moved here in 2016. While it’s all-wheel drive is very capable and it has good ground clearance, the Cruiser will take the tougher trips and save the Forester for more years of service.

Anyway, thank you again Team GerbersGo! We hope to find more and more ways we can use it to bless MOHI’s ministry, visitors, and our friends in Kenya.

Bonus dashboard footage of a very wet safari with visitors in the new Cruiser:

Summer Furlough 2019

This summer we are due to take a short furlough after 3 years in Kenya. Normally this would be a longer 6+ month furlough, but we didn’t want to take Hannah out of school. The main purpose of furlough is rest and relationships.

We have a fairly busy June and July scheduled to meet with many of our supporting churches and catch up with our supporters. Sundays are booked for churches, but mid-weeks will be slower to allow for visiting with friends and family and a few support events. We are building in down time with our families and even a vacation. Let us know if you would like to connect with us! Here are some dates to know where we’ll be:

June:
2nd – Private Event – Harford County, MD
9th – Greenville Church of the Brethren – Greenville, OH
10-13th – East 91st Christian Church – VBS Missionaries – Indianapolis, IN
16th – East 91st Christian Church – Indianapolis, IN
16-20th – Retreat – Indianapolis, IN
23rd – East Main Street Christian Church – Greenville, OH
25th – Private Event – Fort Recovery, OH

July:
7th – Beechwold Christian Church – Columbus, OH
14th – Boulevard Christian Church – Baltimore, MD
16th – Private Event – Harford County, MD
21st – Mountain Christian Church – Harford County, MD
25th – Private Event – Harford County, MD
27th – Fly to Kenya!

New Church Building!

Big day for our Mathare North Church! (our home church) We moved out of the tent and into a church building God gave us right next door to rent!

Ribbon cutting, VIP guests, sodas for everyone, and most importantly they let Patrick reconfigure the sound system! May God bless us with the funds to buy this property.

Strategic Partnerships

This week Patrick got to spend time in our advanced computer classes for MOHI graduates who are pursuing good data entry jobs available from our partners. One of MOHI’s supporters knew someone with a data entry outsourcing company in America. Now that company is training and hiring our high school graduates for good paying jobs.  Isn’t it wild how God uses our skills and passions?

What are you really good at and love doing? MOHI uses visiting partners with skills in firefighting, hairdressing, teaching, data entry, music, IT, social work, counseling, pastoral ministry, business, etc. to give life-transforming opportunities to people in our communities. How can you leverage your gifts to create opportunities for people?

Don’t Drive Here – Nairobi

You may have heard Patrick say he loves the challenge of driving here, or that it took Katie a few months to try driving, or that we get stuck in crazy Nairobi traffic. This TV show perfectly illustrates why driving in Nairobi is a major part of our lives. I edited together the highlights of the Nairobi episode of “Don’t Drive Here”. Enjoy this view into life in Nairobi, Kenya!

Short Rains Blues

We’ve entered the “Short Rains” season. While September and October have been beautiful everyday, the last two weeks it has rained everyday and it has gotten cooler (58º-75º). The weather really changes life here. Remember all homes/offices don’t have heat – the temperature outside is the temperature inside. Solar powered hot water heaters also don’t work well on cloudy, rainy days.

There is a lot of uncovered soil and poor drainage so there is mud and giant mud puddles everywhere. For us that means our car is filthy and we were boots everyday, but most Kenyans walk everywhere through all of that, many in sandals.

So we’re suffering from a little seasonal affective disorder. Like everything else we have it much better than our Kenyan friends and coworkers. We’re just not used to it yet. It’s the short rains so we only have a couple weeks of it left. We can make it!

Thanks for being on this journey with us! Please pray for our family this week. Thanksgiving is (of course) an American holiday and not celebrated here. In the past we would have taken this week off and already be with family in Ohio. We miss not being there. We were able to order a turkey and will be eating a grand meal with our American teammates on Thursday. We are very thankful for our life here in Kenya that God has provided.

Team Retreat at the Indian Ocean!

14691182_515865958612789_1239173129923727306_oHannah’s the first in the family to step foot in the India Ocean. Our team is at the coast for our annual retreat. Since we skipped family vacations the last two years, this will do.

This team retreat has been a great opportunity for our family to get to know our teammates better, talk about the team culture we’re striving for, and just relax after a long 22 months of crazy transitions for our family.