Anyhow, we recently released this video, and it is now being distributed to all AIM missionary candidates, but we thought we’d share it here as well so you can enjoy what our last 2 years have been like!

Our orientation school, ABO (Africa Based Orientation), was a really great time of making new friends and learning many things. It humbled us, challenged us, and helped us push through the culture shock. We realize how shell-shocked we were that 1st couple of weeks in Kenya and now we feel a little more like this is home, thanks to our 3 weeks of immersion in rural Kenyan culture. We learned a ton about Africa worldview and thought patterns, not only the obvious ones like event [Africa] vs. time [Western] oriented cultures, but more difficult ones like how to communicate between a shame [Africa] vs. guilt [Western] culture.

We stayed in dorms at Scott Theological College (or, as Avery says: Scottological College). The kids had one room, Lesa & I another, which was nice. We ate primarily Kenyan food for those 3 weeks, stuff like ugali and sukamowiki and rice and beans, in different orders but pretty much the same food every day for lunch and supper.

In addition to classroom “lectures”, we also participated in ministry on Sunday mornings.  First, at a rural church where we taught a children’s Sunday School lesson and second at a girls’ high school boarding school where we got to deliver the “sermon.”  We also went to visit a Mosque during our unit on Islam, and went to visit the home of a Kenyan family for tea (Chai and cookies).  The home was a one room “apartment”, we sat on the bed as we were served tea and visited.  We also got to go shopping for veggies and fruit at the market in Machakos – a wonderful experience!  We made guacamole to share with our ABO friends (the avocados here are super-cheap!).

Homestay

We are now on our second day of staying with a Kenyan family in Nairobi.  We will be here for four weeks.    The couple we are staying with have grown children and one baby grandson.  The “mama” has declared that she will spoil her new “grandchildren” with whatever they want!  We know that we will have a great time joining in with this family and their extended family that seem to be in and out quite frequently.  There are many things here that will take some getting used to – even from our ABO experience.  We are quite a few steps deeper into African life.  As an example, we have both tried a piece of goat head meat – which they have cooked and cut up right here at the house.  It actually didn’t taste too bad, but the thought of what it was made it a bit hard to keep down!  The boys will start school on August 14th – we’re all looking forward to that!

Reflections

As I (Andy) swang in a swing at ABO, a few afternoons ago, I marveled that as I was thinking about supper, most of you were finishing breakfast. I marveled that as most of you are sweating it out in the humid summer heat, we are wearing jackets and sleeping under several blankets because they don’t heat the dorms (or homes) here (don’t forget we’re on the equator!). I realized how different our 2 worlds are, but yet the sky looks the same (but a different set of constellations at night). I marveled that so many people 8-9-10 hours behind us were praying for us, and had sacrificed so much for us to be here, right now. We praise God for each of you, and think of you often.

-Andy, Lesa, Robbie, Avery, Sydney

WE MADE IT!! We got our financial clearance from AIM yesterday and we are on our way to Kenya at the end of June! God has been in the middle of this whole thing – we basically just sat back and watched. The other highlight of this past month was our Commissioning Service at Dulles Community Church, where we have been on staff for the past almost 5 years. It was such a beautiful time where we really got to see the body of Christ in action as the local church sent out its own to serve.

As we write this, we are about 3 hours outside of Virginia, driving to Ohio – the first stop on our June tour of the country! Here’s our travel schedule, in case anyone wants to pop in to see us when we are out your way:

May 31 – June 2: Cedarville, OH at Grandma Stormont’s

June 2 – 9: Aledo, IL at Andy’s parents (we will be getting away to Chicago from the 5th – 8th for our 10th anniversary)

June 10 (am): Pine Ridge Presbyterian Church, Kansas City, MO. We will be speaking specifically at the 9:15 service about our upcoming ministry in Africa

June 10-20: Hutchinson, KS at Lesa’s parents’

June 20 – 22: Kansas City (Robbie wil be attending camp at Heartland while we spend time seeing friends in KC)

June 22-27: Aledo, Illinois

June 27 – 29: Pearl River, NY at AIM headquarters to meet up with the other new missionaries who will travel with us to Africa

Once we get to Kenya, we have a very exciting schedule, too. We will be staying at a guest house for a week to rest and acclimate to the time change. Then we will be at Africa-Based Orientation school for 3 weeks in Machakos, Kenya. There the whole family will be trained and prepared for our new life and ministry. Then we will go to stay with a Kenyan family in their home for a few weeks (not sure how long exactly). This is where we will really get to know how Africans live and experience the culture first-hand. FINALLY, after all of this, we will get to settle into our new home in Nairobi. Hopefully, our shipment of stuff will have arrived and we can finally have a place to call “home” again.

At this point, we are actually OVER our monthly pledge target (106%). This is perfect for many reasons. The extra monthly money goes into our “work funds” account, which will serve as a safety net should we dip low on any given month in our monthly support. We can also pull money from this account for ministry expenses, so we’re not spending our salary on video tapes and camera lenses! Also, our hope is that we could use this money for possible travel to lead worship at missionary conferences and such. We thank you all for how much you helped to make this happen. It is so crazy that God has so clearly made this happen – it makes us really wonder what He has in store for us over there!

We have also raised money for some vital equipment necessary for Andy to function on the media team and for us to lead worship at events. We are still hoping to take a few more items with us for the media team, such as more camera equipment, recording equipment, and software. If you are interested in making a donation towards this equipment, the easiest way is to go to the AIM website at www.aimint.org. This donation should be towards the project named, “Andy and Lesa Brown Media Equipment.” You can also make other donations there and/or join our monthly support team.

If you sent in a pledge card and/or a check to us and you have not yet received something in the mail from AIM, could you please send us an e-mail and let us know? We are trying to iron out a few details with AIM this month and want to make sure everyone is set up with AIM for receipts and monthly pledges.

We’ll keep the website up to date throughout the next 2 months and probably send out another e-mail sometime later in the summer when we are in Kenya. We love you all and thank you for all of your help and support! LOOK OUT AFRICA, HERE WE COME!