Today was a hard day as we said kwaheri (goodbye) to our friends at HOREC. Yesterday was even harder for me as I said goodbye to the older children, including Adhiambo. They were in school today, so we had to say goodbye to them on Sunday. I take comfort in knowing our goodbye is only temporary. I will see my beautiful friends again!
I am so sorry that I have not been blogging. The connectivity hasn't been great and by the time I get pictures uploaded, it is time to sleep. I am hoping to catch up over the upcoming days. There are many stories to be told and remembered!
Monday, June 18, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Kenya 2012 Pictures
I am having troubles getting the slideshow to appear on the blog. Kenya 2012 pictures can be found at:
https://picasaweb.google.com/jgenord2004/HOREC2012?authuser=0&feat=directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/jgenord2004/HOREC2012?authuser=0&feat=directlink
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
What is in the cards for us?
Kim is leading our morning devotions before heading out to serve. They are a perfect way to start the day, and I am so happy that everyone feels comfortable sharing with the group. We've shed a few tears and are learning more about each other. It is such an important part of our day, and we are all grateful for the time and effort that Kim put into creating each morning's devotion.
Yesterday, Maribeth added a uniquely wonderful element to our morning devotions by introducing a deck of cards that contain various words on them, such as love, foregiveness, completion, stillness, etc. Each morning, everyone selects a random card, and then each night after dinner we talk about our cards and share relevant experiences from the day. Yesterday, my mom selected "reverence," which read: "Today I walk in reverence, reflecting on the miracles taking place in my life. This world is Your creation. Therefore, as I honor myself . . . I honor You." It was so perfect. What my mom is doing is a miracle. At 79, she got a passport for the first time and traveled half way across the world (20+ hours of travel) to take part in a mission trip, something she has wanted to do for a long time. Each day, she climbs 36 stairs at least twice, stands around waiting for long periods of time (we are on Kenyan time afterall!), travels on dusty and bumpy roads to our destination, walks distances to work on projects, carries and lifts her fair share of supplies, bends down to hug small children, etc. I revere my mom and what she is doing here, and I praise God for giving her the strength and confidence to finally experience her dream. Bwana Asifiwe!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Tell me a story . . . . please!
This is a story that my dear friend, Kerry Wuthrich, wrote for the June issue of the Global Hope newsletter:
“Tell me a story … pleeeeease!” … if you have children in your life, you have likely heard these words, and you’ve probably obliged the child begging for the tale you have to offer. You may be reaching inside for an experience to share with them for the first time, or a special favorite they like to hear again and again. In either case, it’s hard to say how these precious reflections continue to influence the ears they fall upon for a lifetime to come—but be assured, they do.
When Joyce Genord was a little girl, her grandfather shared with her his adventures that took him to Africa and India. She was in awe of her world traveling, adventurous grandfather and dreamed of being one herself someday. Her mother, Janet Genord, was also an inspiring example. Joyce grew up in a loving Christian home where she saw her mom caring for others and supporting mission work in various ways. Her mother would gather needed supplies for medical kits, collect coats, donate money to help with financial needs, and partner with an intercessory working directly with women’s ministries. It is easy to see how Joyce developed such a sincere heart for following God’s will for her life.
Some time ago, Joyce taught a Sunday School class of kindergartners. They were collecting shoes, towels, and medicine for a team of missionaries to handdeliver to HOREC (Hope for Orphans Rehabilitation Center in Kenya, Africa). Months later, she was able to share with her class the photos of the proud children wearing the new shoes they had helped collect! This was starting to get personal. She carried in her heart and mind her grandfather’s stories and her mother’s example, and now Joyce was open the opportunity she now had before her to go on a mission trip to Africa and serve orphans in a hands-on capacity.
Her world travels had already begun years before when she worked in China. When she went to Cambodia, Joyce saw poverty—devastating poverty—but it didn’t affect her heart the way the poverty she saw in Kenya did.
In 2009, Joyce went on the second Global Hope mission trip to HOREC. She had photos, brief descriptions, and most importantly, names to go with the precious faces and stories. Joyce studied them and became personally invested in these specific, individual children. When they met for the first time the excitement was overwhelming for her—and the children were amazed she knew their names!
These children had been discarded, and had endured much suffering. They had cared for their parents dying of AIDS, they had been abused, they had faced not knowing where their next meal come from, and they had not had the chance to attend school with their peers.
But when they first met, this is not what Joyce saw in these young lives; in these smiles that greeted her team with exuberant, joyful song and dance! She saw that they were overcoming their struggles, knowing they have not been forgotten, they were experiencing God’s love for them through the outreach of caring people—from a few kilometers away, to oceans away—and the children now embodied hope, and an infectious sense of peace.
They say a picture says a thousand words and this picture speaks with no less volume, but there is one word in particular to notice. It is the Kiswahili word, or name, that the teenage girls at HOREC gave to Joyce during her third visit with them in Kenya this past fall. The word is, “bahati,” which means “lucky.” Does Joyce agree with them? That would be a resounding YES!
Our mission team read The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns. The quote that struck a chord with Joyce is a comment Stearns made about his first trip to Africa. He says: “I wasn’t supposed to be there, so far out of my comfort zone—not in that place where orphaned children live by themselves in their agony. There, poverty, disease, and squalor had eyes and faces that stared back, and I had to see and smell and touch the pain of the poor.” Even though these words are stark, Joyce found comfort in a verse from the first Bible study she had ever done. It was rooted in Philippians, and now as her favorite verse, it is the one she relied upon for her journey into the lives of the children in Kenya: Philippians 4:6-7, which summed up means, “don’t worry, pray for everything, give thanks, and through Christ everything will be okay.”
I am blessed to call Joyce my friend, to have served with her in Kenya, and to have shared our hearts and love for these children with one another. (By the way, this is one of the countless blessing of missions—the opportunity to build relationships rooted in serving as the Body of Christ.) I asked her frankly how she would like to see others respond to the needs of orphans through Global Hope in Kenya, Romania, and India? The truth—there are abundant ways you can reach out and affect the lives of these children, but her desire is emphatically to have more people actually meet the children and see with their own eyes the good that is being done, by actually going on mission trips. Serving in this capacity is a time and resource commitment and Joyce recognizes that it is a special blessing, and that for most, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
I mentioned that Joyce’s grandfather’s stories to her as a young girl were of his travels in Africa and India. What I didn’t mention is something Joyce herself just learned a few months ago. His stories of India took place in the city of Palakol … the very same city in which Global Hope has recently partnered. Praise be to God for the way he shows us how connected we all are. Let us love one another as He does.
“Tell me a story … pleeeeease!” … if you have children in your life, you have likely heard these words, and you’ve probably obliged the child begging for the tale you have to offer. You may be reaching inside for an experience to share with them for the first time, or a special favorite they like to hear again and again. In either case, it’s hard to say how these precious reflections continue to influence the ears they fall upon for a lifetime to come—but be assured, they do.
When Joyce Genord was a little girl, her grandfather shared with her his adventures that took him to Africa and India. She was in awe of her world traveling, adventurous grandfather and dreamed of being one herself someday. Her mother, Janet Genord, was also an inspiring example. Joyce grew up in a loving Christian home where she saw her mom caring for others and supporting mission work in various ways. Her mother would gather needed supplies for medical kits, collect coats, donate money to help with financial needs, and partner with an intercessory working directly with women’s ministries. It is easy to see how Joyce developed such a sincere heart for following God’s will for her life.
Some time ago, Joyce taught a Sunday School class of kindergartners. They were collecting shoes, towels, and medicine for a team of missionaries to handdeliver to HOREC (Hope for Orphans Rehabilitation Center in Kenya, Africa). Months later, she was able to share with her class the photos of the proud children wearing the new shoes they had helped collect! This was starting to get personal. She carried in her heart and mind her grandfather’s stories and her mother’s example, and now Joyce was open the opportunity she now had before her to go on a mission trip to Africa and serve orphans in a hands-on capacity.
Her world travels had already begun years before when she worked in China. When she went to Cambodia, Joyce saw poverty—devastating poverty—but it didn’t affect her heart the way the poverty she saw in Kenya did.
In 2009, Joyce went on the second Global Hope mission trip to HOREC. She had photos, brief descriptions, and most importantly, names to go with the precious faces and stories. Joyce studied them and became personally invested in these specific, individual children. When they met for the first time the excitement was overwhelming for her—and the children were amazed she knew their names!
These children had been discarded, and had endured much suffering. They had cared for their parents dying of AIDS, they had been abused, they had faced not knowing where their next meal come from, and they had not had the chance to attend school with their peers.
But when they first met, this is not what Joyce saw in these young lives; in these smiles that greeted her team with exuberant, joyful song and dance! She saw that they were overcoming their struggles, knowing they have not been forgotten, they were experiencing God’s love for them through the outreach of caring people—from a few kilometers away, to oceans away—and the children now embodied hope, and an infectious sense of peace.
They say a picture says a thousand words and this picture speaks with no less volume, but there is one word in particular to notice. It is the Kiswahili word, or name, that the teenage girls at HOREC gave to Joyce during her third visit with them in Kenya this past fall. The word is, “bahati,” which means “lucky.” Does Joyce agree with them? That would be a resounding YES!
Our mission team read The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns. The quote that struck a chord with Joyce is a comment Stearns made about his first trip to Africa. He says: “I wasn’t supposed to be there, so far out of my comfort zone—not in that place where orphaned children live by themselves in their agony. There, poverty, disease, and squalor had eyes and faces that stared back, and I had to see and smell and touch the pain of the poor.” Even though these words are stark, Joyce found comfort in a verse from the first Bible study she had ever done. It was rooted in Philippians, and now as her favorite verse, it is the one she relied upon for her journey into the lives of the children in Kenya: Philippians 4:6-7, which summed up means, “don’t worry, pray for everything, give thanks, and through Christ everything will be okay.”
I am blessed to call Joyce my friend, to have served with her in Kenya, and to have shared our hearts and love for these children with one another. (By the way, this is one of the countless blessing of missions—the opportunity to build relationships rooted in serving as the Body of Christ.) I asked her frankly how she would like to see others respond to the needs of orphans through Global Hope in Kenya, Romania, and India? The truth—there are abundant ways you can reach out and affect the lives of these children, but her desire is emphatically to have more people actually meet the children and see with their own eyes the good that is being done, by actually going on mission trips. Serving in this capacity is a time and resource commitment and Joyce recognizes that it is a special blessing, and that for most, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
I mentioned that Joyce’s grandfather’s stories to her as a young girl were of his travels in Africa and India. What I didn’t mention is something Joyce herself just learned a few months ago. His stories of India took place in the city of Palakol … the very same city in which Global Hope has recently partnered. Praise be to God for the way he shows us how connected we all are. Let us love one another as He does.
Good Day Today
We had a good day today with the kids. We joined them for church at St. Tobias Catholic church. It is the church the kids go to regularly. The priest was on Kenya time and the service started an hour or so late. We just sat cuddling the younger kids while the older kids practiced their dancing and singing. The priest presiding over the mass was the "good priest." Last year I went to church at St. Tobias with the kids a few times. There was one priest who was very interesting - very animated with a lot of shouting and hand motions, etc. The priest spoke his homily in both Swahili and English, so we were able to follow along with most of the service. The kids did readings as well as sang and danced. It was really great. Most of the younger kids fell asleep in our arms. You really can't beat that!
After church we did a craft with the kids and gave them presents from the Good Shepherd UMC. Each of the children received a ziplock bag full of age appropriate goodies. Donna Hall coordinated with GSUMC. She said each family "adopted" a child and filled his/her bag full of goodies. Thank you to all those that participated at GSUMC. It was really awesome! The gifts were great! The kids really loved their sunglasses! They are always a hit at HOREC!
I am having difficulties posting pictures. There are several posted on my facebook site if you want to check them out there.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Karibu Kenya!
We arrived safely in Kenya and ALL our bags arrived! Praise God! Bwana Asifiwe! More tomorrow . . . Lala salama time!
Friday, June 8, 2012
Arrived Safely in London
Arrived safely in London. Too pooped to tour the city in the cold, wind and rain. Mom is traveling well.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Kenya, Here We Come!
We are at the airport waiting to board our flight. Everyone is here and the only issue is a slightly delayed flight. Life is good and so is God!!!
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Packing Party!!!!
Saturday, June 2, 2012
The Countdown Begins
Only 5 more days until we leave for Kenya. Mom and I are busy with last minute preparations. Mom is so excited to go, but I think nerves have set in a little for both of us. Please keep us in your prayers as we finalize our preparations and set off on our journey on Thursday. Thanks to everyone for all their support. Mom really appreciates all the support she has received from friends and family. You guys are amazing!
"In this ife we cannot always do great things. But we can do small things with great love." (Mother Theresa)
"In this ife we cannot always do great things. But we can do small things with great love." (Mother Theresa)
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