Merry Christmas! We hope that you all are having a blessed time of celebrating Christ’s birth this week. We’ve been hearing of the cold and snow back in the States and suppose we shouldn’t mention the sunny 90 degree weather we’ve been having!? As we are winding up 2010, we look back and are so amazed at what God has done in our lives. The biggest piece of news we wanted to tell you is that we had an incredible response to our last update about our financial support needs. Thanks to many of you, we are able to stay on the field through the end of this term (May 2011) when we will be returning for our second “home assignment.” We look forward to hopefully seeing each of you in June or July when we visit our churches and families. As you can see in the video, we just got back from a short trip to Olepishet this week. We’ll tell you more about the cool things happening there in our next update! For now, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love in Christ,
Andy, Lesa, Robbie, Avery, and Sydney

Things are slowing down for us a bit.  Andy has returned from his trip and had quite the tropical island experience!  They had some incredible opportunities to film in this creative access country at locations which are usually closed off.  Check our website soon for stories and photos from that trip. His team doesn’t have any more trips planned for the near future, but will settle in to work on several video projects that they have been assigned, including one about their last island trip, an AIM orientation video, an AIM medical ministries video, an RVA (AIM’s boarding school) video, among others.

The boys’ school is wrapping up this week with Christmas parties and such.  Robbie’s class gets to take a field trip to an orphanage to share in Christmas activities with the children there, which should be a memorable experience for him.  His first band concert went quite well, too.  He’s quite the budding saxophone player!  Sydney and Avery are as busy as ever – we just keep the band-aids flowing.  We stay busy leading worship for various events, helping to lead a youth group, and meeting once or twice a month with the “Inbounders” (short-term and first-term missionaries with AIM) at our house for fellowship. We are all looking forward to the visit of our friends, the Lang family, in January.

Lesa’s first play at school is over (click here to see photos of Little Women) and she is taking a break before next semester, when rehearsals for the next show, The King and I, will begin.  There will be nearly 50 students involved in the cast, which is quite a daunting, yet exciting challenge.   Our family is looking forward to the next school year, which will bring many changes, as our kids will begin attending this school and Lesa has been asked to teach drama/fine arts full-time.  We will keep you posted on all that this will mean for our family, as we are in prayer about if and when we may need to move nearer to school.

We also want to bring you up to date regarding our friend, Wycliffe, and his 5 year old son, Brian, whom we told you about in our last letter.  Much has developed since our last letter!  We had known that Brian needed some medical attention to address possible hearing problems, as well as developmental problems, so we have been taking him to doctors.  As far as the hearing issue (which the doctors advised us to tackle first), we are actually picking them up from the hospital today after surgery to get tubes in his ears.  The ENT doing the procedure thinks that this will potentially solve his hearing problem.  If it does, then the next step will be speech therapy, followed by physical and occupational therapy.  We will be looking for a special school for him (special education is not typically a part of the schools here).  Including this surgery, Brian’s medical expenses have reached $1,000.  In faith, we have been covering these, but need help after this surgery (it’s on our credit card)! A few of you have indicated that you would like to help with the costs (thank you!) and we are praying that God would raise up more to help sponsor Brian on a one time or on a regular basis.  If you, your church, or someone you know has a heart for children with special needs and would like to help out, please email us.

God has been so faithful to put it on many of your hearts to pray for us continually and to support us financially.  Thank you so much for your faithfulness, it is what encourages and keeps us going.  At this point, though, we are under-supported around $1,500 per month.  We have an AIM savings account of sorts that makes up the deficit each month, but that will run out by May or so.   What this means is that if we don’t find more people to support us monthly, we will not be able to return to Kenya after our trip to the States next summer.  Will you pray for us that God will lay it on more people’s hearts to commit to supporting us monthly?  Would you also consider talking to your church about potentially supporting us (if it doesn’t already)?  We completely believe that God has placed us here for purposes of His own and that He will make it happen.  He proved it before when He got us out here and He will do it again, we know!
Upcoming events:
5-Jan: Andy’s birthday and the 1st half of the Lang family arrives.
19-Jan to 23-Jan: We’ll be vacationing with the entire Lang family on Kenya’s coast
24-25 Apr, 1-2 May: Lesa’s 2nd show as drama director: The King and I
15-May ?: We begin our 3-4 month home assignment, setting foot in America for the first time in almost 2 years (for most of us, anyway)

Only five months until we’re back in the States for a few months and we know that we will be so busy that the time will fly.  We can’t wait to see each of you!  Have a very Merry Christmas!

All our love,
Andy, Lesa, Robbie, Avery, and Sydney

We know Christmas isn’t really about all that. These are seasonal things… but somehow they are wrapped up in that warm, gingerbread-latte feeling of the holiday. Our family has been watching Home Alone and Wonderful Life and other Christmas movies trying to remind ourselves that this actually is Christmastime. It’s our first Christmas away from our home culture!

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. (Galatians 4)

When Kenyans do Christmas, there’s no trees and presents. They go to church, and they have a big meal together with extended family. We should be celebrating Christmas like that, like a family around a table, because God sent his Son that we might receive the full rights of sons. Jesus is as our brother, closer than a brother in fact. We are family, and heirs, together: Kenyan, American, Brazilian… It’s not a ceremony, it’s a birthday party.

As we have said before, we are so thankful for the opportunity to be ministering in Africa, and for all of you who have helped to make this happen. We pray this Christmas season you will grow in enjoyment of Christ and the gift he gave the world in leaving all the comforts of his home for the sake of ministering to us.

Click to see the photo album

We just got our Christmas tree up, and we’re already writing our “Christmas” letter (a big step for us)! We hope your holiday season has started off well and your tree is up! Things are going well here. Life is busy and in full swing as we are enjoying our ministry at Dulles Community Church, spending time with our kiddos, and giving LOTS of piano lessons.

Robbie, who is eight and in 2nd grade, keeps busy playing with Legos and video games, practicing piano, losing teeth, and running around playing with his buddies. Avery, who is four and in preschool, learned to ride a bike this summer and is as happy-go-lucky as ever – following his brother around! Sydney is two now and talking and singing up a storm. Every place we go, someone is exclaiming how cute she is (what can we say?)!

The big news…

Two weeks ago we were officially “appointed” as missionaries with Africa Inland Mission. We hope to be moved to Nairobi, Kenya by next July to serve as full-time missionaries there! The process was prompted by Andy’s trip to North Africa which made a profound impression upon him. I (Lesa) had felt drawn towards missions, particularly Africa, since I was 15 and had pursued the subject in college and seminary.

So when he came back on fire, I wasn’t sure what to think! We prayed for four months. We eventually decided that we were being called to go somewhere, we just weren’t sure where!

We took a wonderful trip to North Africa and Kenya last spring, which confirmed our call and confused us at the same time. We came away leaning towards Sub-Saharan Africa, but were still unsure. We also came away with contacts and ideas of ministries there. We spent the summer praying and seeking out more possibilities.

Meanwhile, I was fighting going to Africa in my heart because of the difficulty of life there. However, doors were continually opening for an opportunity which we had heard about on our trip through Africa Inland Mission (AIM). God began teaching me what “surrender” and “trust” really means. By that point, all of the open doors with AIM were undeniable and we knew in our hearts that it was where God had been leading us.

In November, we went to “Candidate Week” at the US headquarters for AIM in NY. Andy’s mom came to Virginia to stay with the kids, so we ended up having a nice get-away, as well! The week went wonderfully – we made lots of friends and had many intense workshops and meetings. There we were appointed by AIM and knew that this was an organization we could trust and partner with.

Life in Africa

Our official, primary assignment with AIM is the new On-Field Media Team, whose purpose is to be “missionary storytellers,” a team with a unique set of technical and creative skills (sounds like Andy, huh!), serving both the mission and the missionary, encouraging the Church, for the glory of God. They will be field-based and mobile (through AIM AIR); able to go to any of the 18 African nations where AIM serves. The video, web, photography, articles and graphic art design they produce will serve to enhance the work of partnership development, recruitment, needs awareness, and prayer. Their goal is to “Declare His glory among the nations” (Psalm 96:3).

Unofficially, we are going as “worship leaders to missionaries” – to use our music to help refuel the missionaries to be able to serve from a place of spiritual and emotional abundance. This will happen whenever and wherever we have the opportunity – Bible studies, meetings, conferences, retreats, etc.

We’ve also always dreamed of assisting the African Church in equipping/ resourcing its musicians, as we have tried to do in churches here. We have a lot to learn about African culture/music and we want to assess what the real needs are – so we’ll participate in local churches at first as students of their culture.

Finally, I (Lesa!) will be busy with the kids and making our house a “home” in Africa – when I have time, I plan on checking out local ministries such as orphanages or national schools to see how and where I might volunteer regularly.

Robbie and Avery are becoming excited about the upcoming move. We plan for them to attend West Nairobi School, a private Christian (American) school, where there will be many other missionary kids for them to befriend. OH, and Sydney already says, “Jambo” (“hello” in Swahili)!

Partnering with us

As we have come to believe that this is God’s plan and desire to send us to be a part of His work in Africa through AIM, we are also placing ourselves fully in His hands for all of our needs. This seems scary, but we have a real peace that if this is what He wants us to do, He will provide the way for us to go.

Missionaries with AIM raise their full support – which means that all of their expenses, salary, etc. come from the body of Christ, which is sending them out as part of the Church’s commission from Christ to “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” We are seeking individuals and churches who want to be a part of our work and our lives in Africa through prayer (which is a huge need) and/or financial support in order to make the work possible.

Financially, you can partner with us in these ways: by contributing to our Outgoing Expenses or by making a monthly pledge for our Salary on the field. Our Outgoing Expenses target is $28,930, which will cover travel, household set-up in Nairobi, Orientation School, 2 months’ worth of salary, medical expenses, and shipping of our stuff. Our Monthly Support Target is $4,911, (you can see a specific break-down of all expenses on our website, as well as a link to contribute on-line). If you are feeling a call from God to join us through prayer or finances, you can send us the response card we included.

If you want details on any of this: our family (plus photos!), AIM, our ministry, our move, expenses, thoughts on missions in Africa, etc., you can go to our family website at www.brownfamily.ws. It’s a pretty cool site (why do you think I married a web-geek?)

Will you pray for us?

We will be sending out another update in a month or two. For now, we would love your prayers for us over the next two months as we begin the process of packing up and selling our house, doing loads of paperwork for moving overseas, and building our support team. Please pray that we will remain calm and trust in God’s provision and timing in all things. Please also pray for the On-Field Media Team as it gets started this year – that a solid foundation will be laid for a strong team.

We would also love to hear how you are doing and keep in touch with you. Please write us!

We love you all!

Have a Merry Christmas,

Andy, Lesa, Robbie, Avery, and Sydney Brown