We landed safely in California Friday afternoon with sleepy eyes and thankful hearts! Thank you to everyone who has prayed for us before we left and while we were on the field. We felt your prayers and we would not have had this experience without your faithful support.
Please continue to be praying for the people of South Asia to know and love Jesus and for the believers there to be strengthened. Please also continue to pray for our team as they re-enter American culture with new perspectives and new experiences. Pray that their hearts would be encouraged as they process everything from the past two weeks and that the Lord would protect them from any spiritual warfare.
Make sure to ask your team member about their experience and how you can be praying for them specifically! We thank you and we love you all! Dhanyavaad!
We send you greetings from East Africa. Our team is all strong and healthy and we are enjoying every moment here. Thank you so much for praying. We are learning Swahili from our friends and each day is full of exciting experiences and building relationships with the locals. Some of our highlights from the last two days are home visits, evening devotions with the children, serving at a hospice, and touring the ministries hospital.
In small groups, we visited the homes of former ministry guests who are now home recovering. Deb, Kayden, Ryan, and Kathleen visited a man who is paralyzed but after experiencing the hope of Jesus has now returned as a teacher for children at the hospice. The team was able to pray and share with him and his wife which was inspiring for them all.
Meanwhile, Bella, Hannah, Alyssa, and Chloe spent time playing and caring for the children, many of whom have cerebral palsy. They helped feed the guests, play, and sing Swahili songs for hours. Daniel, Joshua, and Titus went out to work on the large shamba (field) with a local farmer. They planted over 30 rows of green onions and black nightshade (similar to kale), a vegetable that we boiled and ate that night for dinner. The food here is amazing and so flavorful. They bring a new dish each day which becomes our new “favorite” and we leave full and satisfied. We stop for a chai multiple times a day And linger in rich conversations with the village leaders.
Last night we had the joy of attending weekly devotions with the children who board at the school (many of who come from the local slum). Their strong, beautiful voices could be heard from the road. We entered the small assembly hall packed to the brim with sweet faces singing with all their might. We worshiped together in both languages and Deb shared a powerful message about the armor of God. The team left so inspired by the faith of the children. We came to serve, but truly we were the ones blessed.
Today we traveled by Land Rover through the rolling green hills to the city to visit the ministry hospital with our field worker. Our team was in awe immediately when we stepped out as it felt like we were in a botanical garden, not a hospital compound. In contrast to typical crowded African hospitals, this place was designed with wide windows, beautiful garden views, spacious rooms, and top-of-the-line care. We saw construction for a Ronald Macdonald-type house for terminally ill children that will be finished in September. The team gathered in the chapel and sang alongside hospital staff and children with cancer who had just gotten out of radiation therapy. Daniel led us in singing “He knows my name…He sees each tear that falls And hears me when I call” and they asked us to pray. While mamas stood behind their precious kids’ wheelchairs we called on our God and prayed for peace. It’s difficult to put into words the spirit in the room.
Believe it or not, the day ended with us hiking through a rain forest with our guides, seeing monkeys swinging through the trees, and having a garden tea party overlooking the breathtakingly beautiful lush countryside. We are being well taken care of and welcomed beautifully with African hospitality.
Thank you for your prayers and support. We are sensing God guide each step of the way and are learning so much. We love and miss you. Love, Your East Africa Team
Devotions at Brook of Faith School, where we will lead VBS this coming week.Walking the paths of our village every day!Have a “Chai Picnic” on the beautiful land of one of our host families. We walked through the forest here and saw monkeys!
Hey guys! Sophia here, absolutely blown away that our two incredible weeks in this place are now over. This experience has stretched us and challenged us in so many beautiful ways, and I think every member of our team would agree we’re coming home with a lot to think about. Learning how to effectively share the gospel was an honor, and it’s inspiring to me that, no matter where we are, the conversations, interactions, and relationships we have can always point back towards God. Watching a man or woman go from mildly curious to completely engaged in the gospel story is an absolutely touching way to see Christ at work. Throughout our trip, we’ve been struck by the recurring theme of Romans 12:12 in our ministry, and have recognized and embraced the absolute power of prayer. Praying over malls, temples, restaurants, our hotel, and the city, and praying with people we met all over the city, has been a powerful reminder that prayer can be simple, touching, powerful, and anywhere. We’ve had a lot of adventures to look back on too- rickshaw rides that give roller coasters a run for their money, train trips where we flew through the city, overpriced Starbucks (it’s universal), hikes around murals and statues and temples, loud and vibrant worship nights, staring contests with strangers, beaches and henna tattoos and so much more. Now that we are looking back on it all with broken-in sandals and touched hearts, we can truly say goodbye to Mumbai knowing that we have given it our all for these two weeks. None of it would be possible without the support of our family and friends, so please know how close we hold you in our hearts and how grateful we are for you. We can’t wait to share more stories when we get back, and look back on this trip with love knowing we will continue to carry it with us as we come home. Love you all so much and please pray for continued safe travels as we head home! PS Dad, Mom, JR- love you times two!! and happy bday to my bff!
Soon we will board our second flight to come back to the US. We look forward to seeing all of our family and friends soon!
Hello family and friends! We have had some wonderfully full last few days in this city. This week we have been intentional to share the gospel each day, and we have been able to connect with so many incredible people. We are one of only a few short-term teams to explore this new part of the city so our days have been full of new sites, adventures of being in a new and unfamiliar place, and not a lot of structure (our team is being stretched in this area!) We have also been able to connect with some local believers here who are close with our fieldworkers and they so graciously invited us into their home for a time of worship, prayer, and a delicious, authentic South Asian meal. The hospitality in South Asia cannot be beat and we were so blessed by their warm welcome and their abundant confidence in Jesus. Their vision is for a church to start in one of the rooms of their house and we are praying in faith that it will happen! Please join us in praying for the sisters R, S, C, and their mother, that they would be encouraged by the Lord working through them in their community and that they would be able to plant a church in their home to be a light to their entire neighborhood. We have been blessed to go out sharing with them for several days and we’ve been able to reach more people because they know both English and the local language here. We hope to serve as an encouragement to them that we are partners with them in the gospel and that we will continue to pray for them even after we go back home. They have been an encouragement to us that there are believers here who are dedicated to sharing the good news and will continue this work in their daily lives even after we are gone. -Kayla
Hey! It’s Joe here. Yesterday (our Wednesday) the three guys (Roenz, Israel, and myself) all went out to meet up with some local students who Israel met a few days before. They had lots of questions about Jesus and what it means to be a Christian. During this time, we were also able to dive into the book of John and go over the story of Nicodemus together. After our Bible study, we bought them lunch and continued to have a good conversations with them about music and life in South Asia. Later, we met some people at a pond and were able to share the Gospel and pray with them! There was also a birthday celebration going on that we were invited to join in for a few minutes while we were there too. A constant with the people of South Asia is their hospitality and great kindness to new people. While getting ready to meet up with the rest of our team, we saw some people playing a pick-up game of Cricket and we were able to play with them for a while! Though they didn’t speak English, we were able to figure out that they played together in a league and they were VERY good. At this point we met up with the team and shared the gospel at a nearby park for a few hours!
-Joe
Please continue to pray for this city, and for the ministry we are a part of to be strengthened even after we depart. Pray for the believers in this city (1.6% of the population) to be strengthened and encouraged. Pray for those who have heard the gospel and who still have more questions to be surrounded by local believers, and pray that they would make the decision to follow Jesus. Please also pray for those who have never heard the gospel or the name of Jesus here, that they would have an opportunity to hear it, to accept it, and to commit to following Jesus.
Some familiar American food: Pizza Hut!Our friends R, S, C & their mother. This is the room they want to see a church start in!They very graciously made this delicious meal *not* spicy. We thank them for that. Girls juice break while the guys met up with their follow up.Yes, this giant statue of a man’s head was in the middle of a large park. No, we have no idea why or who it is. Truly thriving. Some excellent “barbecue” food after our last full day of ministry here!
Sorry for the long wait for our first full update! Here are some highlights from our journey to East Africa and the last few days of ministry. After a long journey, 4 flights, and 21 cumulative hours in the air, we arrived in our village safely! We are so happy to be here.
Upon arrival, we were greeted with an amazing “welcome ceremony,” which included singing, ribbon cutting, flowers given to each team member, and the ceremonial planting of an Avocado tree to commemorate our coming. D. Gluck’s son Titus had the honor of cutting the ribbon as we entered the Hospice facility. After this amazing welcome, we traveled to our guesthouse to settle and rest after our long journey.
These past 2 days have been filled with rich experiences. A few moments that especially stood out to our team included:
On Tuesday, we had the amazing honor of visiting the room of a girl with cerebral palsy. Despite her condition, her smile was contagious enough to light up the room. She LOVED music, and told a staff member she was sad to miss our singing in another part of the hospital. After playing a few songs around her hospital bed, the nurses asked if she wanted one more song… Without hesitation, and through labored speech, she said “TWO!” with a wide grin on her face. We sang “How He Loves” and an old spiritual called “Oh the Blood of Jesus”, after which there was not a dry eye in the house. We went away moved and blessed by her faith and joy!
On Tuesday night, we celebrated the birthdays of two of our own team members as well as one of our local friends here in the village. The night started out with a dinner that was a taste of home but with an East African spin. A special dessert of lemon cake, brownies, and ice cream (a rarity in the East African region) was then prepared for us and all of the singles in the room were required to dance in a circle around the honored people to the beat of a traditional East African song. After dessert, while fellowshipping in the living room, the village bishop proceeded to christen us with our own Kalenjin names based on the circumstances around our births (which is a great honor for visitors). The names given to us were:
• Daniel – Arap Bett (born when the sun is high and the cows are out) • Alyssa – Nebo Arap Bett (wife of Arap Bett) • Deb – Chepasis (twin, one made into two) • Kayden – Jepkoech (born in the stir of the day; rushhour) • Ryan – Kip Rono (born when the sun is going down and the sheep are coming home) • Kathleen – Mrs. Rono (wife of Kip Rono) • Bella – Cherop (born during the rainy season) • Hannah – Chebett (born when the sun is high, many activities happening) • JD – Kip Kemboi (born in the middle of the night) • Titus – Kip Leting (came into the world quickly, a surprise) • Chloe (Jep Korir) – (born when the sun is just below the horizon)
We look forward to continuing our ministry each morning and afternoon at the hospice care facility when we are doing home visits, and while we put on VBS next week for students.
Tutaonana! (See you later!), The East African team!
Riding Shuttle at Frankfurt Airport
Our last flight across the country!
Titus Gluck cutting the ribbon as we enter the Hospice Care Facility
Team planting an avocado tree to commemorate our visit.
Touring the ministry site – this is their new prayer chapel.
There’s always time for Chai!
Chai time – Pt. 2.
Riding in the ministry “Ambulance”, African style.
Hi Family and Friends! After many hours of travel, we arrived, got settled, and began our first full day of ministry! We can’t wait to share what God is doing all around us. We will update again soon 🙂
Hey, Mackenzie here! ✨🤍 The past two days at our new location have been full of excitement and plenty of heat and humidity . The city our team is in is beautiful with all sorts of murals everywhere you look. Yesterday we had a slow morning, praying over our lovely hotel and all the people within it. Then we tried South Asian McDonald’s, very American of us, I know, before heading to a local mall to go share the Gospel. Each of the small groups we split up into had some different experiences, some had fruitful conversations, but my group had a bit of a tougher time. The people here are very hospitable and love to chat with us, but they’re not all down to talk about Jesus. Anytime we tried to steer the conversation back to Christ, the people we talked to managed to skate right past it with surprising skill. Still, we weren’t too bummed out and left with the knowledge that we left an impression for them to think back on as well as more encouraging stories from the rest of the team.
Today we got to visit a church! We walked into the room incredibly early but were welcomed in immediately. Six of us got to listen to worship in both English and the native language of the city and it was an amazing experience. You could feel the joy and energy radiating from the small worship team and the congregation. The small room, which was tucked away on the third floor of a giant convention center through a maze of stairs and dizzying hallways, was packed full of families and individuals ready to be in community with each other. The message struck out hearts and lined up with everything we’d been studying and preparing for in advance for this trip, it’s amazing how God works! It was an encouraging day to be with other believers in a completely different culture than our own. Not to mention, we had the best chai I’ve ever had! The other members of our team also had an encouraging time at another church and got to have lunch with the pastor and his family.
For those curious, our stomach troubles are still hanging about, but we’re getting better day by day and appreciate your prayers! To my family and friends, don’t worry, I am in fact alive and thriving through the heat and the sweat, struggling not to pet all the stray cats and dogs I see. (Especially the cats, they’re so cute. The dogs are cute too but kinda sketch not gonna lie. Please see the included photo of a cat napping on a motorcycle.)
Some of our group, with some of our friends that live in the city, out sharing at the mall. Our crew before leaving for church on Sunday!Some of the group visited one church and had a beautiful experience!The other part of the group went to another church and had lunch at the pastor’s house after, so delicious!Roenz & Israel got to play cricket with some friends from church, they loved it!The views from the freeway entering into this beautiful city!
Hey hey parents, family and friends! This is Emily and I’m going to do my best to summarize our last three days!! It’s been wild that’s for sure. 😜 To start, on Tuesday we had more orientation and training and then got to go out later in the day. The boys went to a University to pray over it and share the Gospel and the ladies headed to the mall to buy some traditional clothing and do a prayer walk as well. 🙂 We eventually came together to have dinner at the food court (yay for some American food!). Wednesday we had a scavenger hunt day where we got to experience the city on our own!! We were split up into groups of 3 and had to finagle and figure out how navigate the city. All teams have different experiences and stories for this one but ours was chaotic (in a good way!). For my team (Israel, Sophia and myself), we got on the wrong transportation system twice 😂, but then a nice and friendly civilian helped us get on the correct train! We made it to a popular tourist landmark in the city where we met a Christian lady who gave us a mini tour for free (we got to pray over her and her boss at the end which was cool). I got pooped on by a bird at the beginning which was a fun twist but I got an M&M prize for it from our fieldworkers later which almost made it worth it.
Anyways, there was so much more but I’ll let everyone tell their individual stories when we all get back 🙂 A good day all around and we ended it with a great worship night. Yesterday was more of a transition day. We were relocating from one part of the city to another, where we will stay for the remainder of the trip. We made it there by the end of the day and then headed to the mall to do some grocery shopping, grab dinner and pray. It was a much needed slower day.
Today is our Sabbath. Israel, Kayla and Roenz went to do a hike very early in the morning until around lunch time and the rest of us slept in, rested, played card games and started watching the first Top Gun movie because we went to watch the new one in theaters tonight😎. Fun fact: they have intermissions during every movie here and so it randomly stopped halfway through and they had the funniest commercials. Some of us are battling the inevitable fun bathroom struggles but we’re gettin through! 💪
Please continue to be praying peace, confidence, unity and good health over our team. We appreciate all our support and love from back home! 🤍
PS hi mom and dad and brothers (&maia) love you
PPS yes mom i am drinking lots of water and electrolytes
Riding the train!Making a stop at the ocean on our scavenger hunt!Found a very popular tourist destination!More scavenger hunt finds. 🙂So much exploring to do in this city!Cows just casually roaming the streets of the city.Some peaceful city views from our hotel room before the start to our Sabbath day.The start to our hike exploring some caves and incredible views of the city!To end our day of rest in between weeks of ministry, training, and cultural orientation, we went to the movies and now we all highly recommend Top Gun: Maverick.
Hey guys! My name is Hailey and I am one of the team members here in South Asia! It is the end of Day 2 (beginning of day 3 now when posting) and we’ve already experienced and seen so much. Thankfully, our travel went very smoothly to get here, and then we made it through day 1, jet lag and all! We tried lots of new foods (all of them being my new favorite), and we also got to ride in rickshaws (highly recommend). Today was fun and exciting for me because I met a girl and I got to share the gospel with her! When she told me about her story, I really felt like I could relate because I was in her shows just a few years ago: not really sure what to believe in but searching for answers. She was really interested in what I had to say and wants to learn more, so I’m looking forward to talking to her again. All of us are having a good time and we have a great dynamic in our team. Joe helps calm us down if we start to feel anxious; Emily, Kaitlin, Mackenzie, and Sophia reassure me that I’m not alone, and Izzy keeps me laughing… all the time. Oh and Roenz and Kayla are just the best at keeping us grounded. 🙂 It’s been a great start with great people and we can’t wait to share more as the days come!
-Hailey
The team staying hydrated on Day 1!A rickshaw ride! Apparently very soothing for a sleepy Hailey!Joe, Mackenzie, and Sophia leading worship on our second day of orientation for our fieldworkers and other teams in our city.We found some American comfort in getting cold Starbucks drinks on a hot day!Joe and Kaitlin found some great shade and beautiful art on our walk while sharing!*fun in the sun*
