I am writing these blogs beginning in Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Monday night September 7^th at about 11:00pm just before we board our first flight to London for the return of our trip to Kenya. I can still remember Barbie dropping Elizabeth Perkins and me off at the Denver Airport August 24^th to begin this trek. The most difficult part of this trip has been making it without Barbie, but it necessary at times like these. The waits on international flights can be tiring, but there’s always time to work on the four messages I would be giving in Limuru, Kenya, like here before we leave Denver.

The team also had the chance to spend a morning with Wanjau Nduba who leads a tem in the Economic Projects Trust Fund, which lends money ton young entrepreneurs to encourage them to build businesses and provide jobs for the community. In well over their 10^th year we have much to learn from Wanjau and all he and the team is doing as it moves forward.

We had to get in a little fun so the day after the EASC ended we went to the Nakuru National Park on safari. It was amazing! Here are some of the animals we saw (notice I like birds!) Gecko, Rhino, Flamingo, Brilliant Colored Starling, and then on the way home of course we could stop at our favorite little coffee house: Kava House.

Here are some more friends it was very good to see again and to meet the students they are investing their lives in- Chris and Anne Amulo. Chris leads the Kenya Collegiate Ministries and his wife an is a Pediatrician. Noel Owuor and pause outside his home before he invited me in for dinner with his family and a close friends. Our Schedule did not allow us time to visit the campus ministry in Machakos, so they came to visit me one day! From left to right: Neftali, Edwin, and Diane came by to say hello and give Barbie and me a gift t-shirt from the Machakos Ministry and to invite us to continue to pray for them! In the last photo, Okike Offia from Nigeria is one of the leaders of the Nigeria Navigators who attended the conference and brought students from west Africa!

After these early days of ministry at Compassion we were ready for the East Africa Students and Labourers Conference, held in Limuru, Kenya. This conference began in a conversation between Chris and me in South African in March of 2008. The original idea was to trust God to have a conference for the growing Collegiate ministry of Kenya with 40 students or so.  You can imagine my awe when I looked up the first morning of the conference and saw this sight before I went up to speak! I stopped to pose here with Chris just before the evening session started the first day of the conference. The singing and worship were inspiring, singing often in Swahili or other African languages.

It was then time to open God’s work on the subject of the Kingdom of God.  A highlight of these conferences are always the friends I run into and get to visit, like Victor Kilwake who leads the collegiate work in Machakos, Kenya (about an hour from Nairobi).

Now lets meet our team! Certainly one of the biggest highlights of the trip was being able to do this trip with a gifted and experienced team. In the front row, left to right: Jackie Holland, (in blue) Elizabeth Perkins (in blue). In the back row: Eddie, Judy Camp and Carl Camp. Jackie, a veteran Navigator staff brought years of ministry experience to the Team as well as the experience of many ministry trips to multiple African countries. Elizabeth Perkins is Executive Director of the John M. Perkins Foundation in Jackson, MS, and Board Members of the US Navigators. Carl Camp is a successful businessman in the area of investments and also brings a wealth of experience helping others grow in maturity in Christ over many years. Carl is also a board member of the US Navigators. Judy is not only a mother and grandmother, but a gifted teacher of the Bible.

The first few days in Kenya we spoke as a team to a group of 150 college students who were helped through Compassion International. We gave the devotions the first four mornings. We spoke on how we can mature in our relationships with Christ using the example of a “Wheel” with four spokes.

Carl shares on Christ the Center of our Lives.

Judy gave a powerful talk on God’s Work.

Jackie spoke on Quiet Time, and Elizabeth described the Obedient Life in clear compelling terms.