Kids in DC

Quick Stats

43 days into our furlough

43 days remaining

3000 miles driven so far

2000 miles to go

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Foods to partake:

• Fountain Coke (check)
• McDonalds (check)
• Chipotle (check)
• Moe’s (check)
• Pizza Hut (check)
• Beau Joe’s
• Papa Johns’
• Sonic

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25 lbs gained [cumulative]

25 lbs to go?

Financial update

THANKS to some very generous gifts, some new supporters, and our faithful supporters from the past two years, we are right on track for returning to Kenya soon. We are still hoping for some more monthly supporters and/or one time gifts. All of our salary, insurance, retirement, etc. come solely from donations, so we are asking if you would prayerfully consider joining our support team. Click here to sign up! We’ve had several people ask if they need to renew their pledge with AIM to continue supporting us. If you are sending in a check each month or if you have your donation withdrawn automatically, it will just continue as it has been. No need to renew. Also, some have asked about the automatic withdrawal system, as they have had some trouble with it in the past. If you go online to the AIM website and try it and still have trouble, please let us know and we’ll do what we can to help!

Travels so far

illinois

ohio

virginia

pennsylvania

north carolina

alabama

arkansas

kansas

Travels to come

June 21- leading worship at Trinity UMC, Hutchinson, KS (2 services)

June 28- leading worship, speaking on missions, at GracePoint Community Church, Denver, CO

July 5- speaking at Trinity UMC, Hutchinson, KS (4 services)

July 12- leading worship at Pine Ridge Presbyterian, Kansas City, MO

July 19- leading worship, speaking at First Pres Galesburg, IL

July 26- speaking at Trinity Pres, Aledo, IL July 31- we leave for Kenya!

New videos

We also wanted to share a couple of quick videos with you, if we haven’t had a chance to personally sit down with you this furlough and show them to you. Click the video to watch it in your browser.

Orientation

AIM’s official video on what it’s like to sell everything and move across cultures and survive the first two years. Told through the eyes of Andy and Lesa Brown.

Captivate

Tim Lang’s story of his 9 months in Africa, living with us, working with Andy on the On-Field Media Team.

1st term thank-you

A sincere thank-you to all our supporters who made our first term in Africa possible. This video is for you.

Overwhelmed and blessed

We have been overwhelmed by the warmth and friendship of everyone we’ve seen on this trip. We feel truly blessed to have so many loving friends and family and it has been wonderful to see and hear about what God has been doing in each of your lives. We don’t want you to think for a moment that your prayers and support for us aren’t significant… they are! It is your prayers and encouragement which keeps us going. You are the Body of Christ at work and you are participating in our work, the work of AIM, and God’s work in Africa!

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:3-6

In Christ’s love, Andy, Lesa, Robbie, Avery, and Sydney

We’re taking a little vacation this weekend. We’ve come back to Eldama Ravine, a town a few hours northwest of Nairobi, where there is a farm called Sunrise Acres, equipped with several self-catering cottages for missionaries to come for a low-budget get-away. We love it here. There is a playground (we haven’t seen much of the boys since we arrived), farm animals, trails, a small “mini-golf course”, ping pong, basketball, board games, books, toys (consisting mainly of old McDonald’s Happy Meal prizes – always a sure hit with our kids), birds chirping, trees swaying in the breeze, and a swimming pool which we have yet to try out. We’ve put a ban on all videos and computer games, except for a family movie at night. Andy and I have already read an entire book each, the boys have already made fast friends with a 10 year old belonging to another family on holiday here, and Sydney has rediscovered the art of playing quietly by herself. Aaahh. (For a short story about our time here at Sunrise Acres, click here).

We came here to get away before the big wave of utter busyness hits us in the next couple of months. We decided this would be a great time to send you a short update on our lives. We heard from many of you that you enjoyed our last video update. We’re so glad! Since then, the past two months have been great. Tim Lang has come to stay with us for the year. He is serving as a short-term missionary with Andy’s team, OFM. If you want to check out Tim’s blog, click here.

Since Tim has come, OFM has traveled as a team to Rwanda. They had an eye-opening experience and came home quite somber from what they had seen. (For more about this trip and the Rwanda genocide, click here). For this week, Tim has joined the Rurup family (Ted is the other member of OFM) and has traveled to Kapsowar, Kenya to film for a video of the hospital there. After our little vacation, Andy will be back in the office finishing up writing the music for the Rwanda video. Be watching for that on our website when itís done. The next scheduled filming trip for OFM is to Mayotte, an island in the Indian Ocean (yeah, I know, must be rough for those poor guys).

We’ve had a couple of birthdays. I (Lesa) turned 35. Ugh. Enough about that. And Robbie turned 10. It’s hard to believe that weíre old enough to have a 10 year old, but I guess based on the fact that I just turned 35, we are. Anyway, Andy and Robbie had a “man-venture” for Robbie’s birthday, and if you would like to read about their harrowing escape from death from a wild animal and their war with a baboon over sausage, click here.

As for me, (Lesa), I’ve been busy, but GREAT! As you know, I’ve begun doing work as the new high school drama director. Our first play of the year, Little Women, is coming up in less than three weeks. I’ve already been working hard to pick out the musical for second semester, as well. There is so much to tell about this new venture that we decided to dedicate most of this update telling you about this new ministry and how our family is doing in the midst of it. But, we’ll let you decide if you really want to read about it. So, click here if you do!

One last thing, before we go. We wanted to tell you all about a recent need here that has come up. You may remember us mentioning Wyclif, a Kenyan who does work for us and has become a good friend. We have spent a lot of time with him and his family over the past 1+ year, often visiting them in their tiny home on the outskirts of Kibera slum. His only son, Brian, is about to turn five years old. Since I met Brian last year, I have wondered about potential learning disabilities, but I knew that his parents had no idea there was a problem. He started going to a school about 6 months ago, so I waited to see what happened there. Unfortunately, it didn’t end well and he was asked not to return. This was a big school and they didnít have the time, training or patience to deal with someone with special needs. I took that opportunity to gently bring up to Wyclif that maybe we could take Brian to see a doctor. Long story short, weíve now been to both a missionary pediatrician and a missionary child psychiatrist. They have both independently confirmed that he is severely delayed in most areas and that there are especially speech problems which may be caused by a potential hearing disability. They both have said that the next step is an official hearing test and examination by an ENT, and then we will deal with finding specialists for speech and other areas. It will be on our shoulders to find resources and arrange all of this. There is also no way that Wyclif will be able to afford any of the inevitable costs that will be associated with diagnosing, treating, and on-going schooling for a special needs child. Would you please be in prayer with us that the Lord would provide the funds and specialists for Brian?

The Christmas holidays are coming soon. That means hot weather for us and cold weather for you! We’re looking forward to the rest of the Lang family coming to visit during the month of January. It will be so great to have friends here to see our lives and to show around. We’d love to have YOU come to see us too!! We’re coming to the States in May and staying through August. We’ll be sending out itineraries eventually, so we will hopefully be able to see you all. Thank you for your prayers and continued financial support. We are amazed day by day at God’s mighty hand in orchestrating the huge team that it takes to keep us here, well-fed, healthy, and able to give of ourselves to others. God bless you all!!

This school, is a perfect fit for me. Their purpose statement is, “To inspire and equip students to use their God-given talents for Christ-like service in the world.” Wow. I love that. I pray that I can do that for these students. Especially to help them see how their artistic gifts can be used in their lives to minister to others, to earn a living, to bring glory to God, and to learn about doing that through excellence and integrity in their craft.

So, you may be wondering what this position entails and how it looks for our family. Basically, I only go to the school for afterschool rehearsals (I’m not teaching any classes this year). I started out with two rehearsals per week, then graduated to three, and have just begun doing four. This is only for the last few weeks before the production. I spend most of my day at home, cleaning, cooking, and doing some home school preschool with Sydney. I typically leave the house at around 2:45pm and come home by 7pm, which is when we have supper. Sydney will often come with me to rehearsal and play around back-stage (the high schoolers like playing with her!). Sometimes she’ll stay at home with our househelper, Truphena. The boys come home around 4:15 and work on homework/practice instruments and Andy gets home at 5pm to relieve Truphena. I usually have simple dinner planned that Andy starts and I help finish up when I get home.

Andy is helping out with the play, as well. He is the technical director which means putting the lights and sound together. We’ve enjoyed working together on it all. The boys come to rehearsals whenever they can, as well. They’ve enjoyed watching the set change each time they come and watching the rehearsal, etc. They have no problem with saying they like the movie “Little Women” and seem to be excited to see the story on stage, too. Even this weekend we’ve watched some of their “plays” that they are making up. This was an important part of why we decided I should do this: to expose our kids to the arts more and have it be a normal part of their lives. We’ve even got Tim pulled into it! He’s helping Andy with the lights and will be running the cameras for when we film it.

You may think that I get home exhausted after rehearsal. And I should be, (especially considering that it takes me an hour in Nairobi traffic to get home), but I’m not! I’m always energized by my time with the students, directing, being creative, mentoring, etc. I come home happy to be home and excited to chat with the family about all that happened at rehearsal and to catch up with their day, as well.

Every day at rehearsal we have a prayer time. We go around and share requests and then everyone prays for each other. Without fail, every day, there is at least one prayer request for a student’s parent(s) who is traveling for their ministry work. I’ve begun to see it as God’s gentle reminder to me every day that what I am doing is important. These kids’ parents are traveling to dig wells for people who have no water, to offer medical services where there’s none available for miles, to teach and encourage African pastors who are ministering in remote locations. And each of those parents is able to do their job with peace of mind knowing that their kids are getting a good education and that they are able to have experiences like being in a play and learning about/honing their God-given gifts. So, as if being in the lives of youth wasnít enough reward for me, knowing that Iím touching the ministries of all the parents too is more than enough to keep me going and encouraged that God has me right where He wants me to be.

Going forward, what’s next? Andy and I are both at the point where we both feel that we are exactly in the right ministry for each of us. We are in prayer right now about our future with the school: Should we live closer? Should the kids transfer there soon and how can we help them to make that adjustment? When should I start teaching classes there and how much of a load could I handle? How can we increase our involvement at school while still maintaining Andy’s work with OFM and our community at AIM? Many of these are questions we are looking to answer between now and the time when we come back to the States in May.

Within the first five minutes we came upon a cow. It was a regular African cow (which means bony), but its bony rear end was sticking into the road because its head was stuck in the fence. All the other cows were in the meadow on the other side of the fence, but somehow this guy had gotten into the road and stuck his head into the barbed wire. The fence was made of big sticks, some still with bark on them, spaced about a foot apart, held together with several strands of barbed wire, also spaced about a foot apart. So, this cow’s head was stuck in one of the spaces, and his big horns were keeping him from pulling his head out. We looked at him as we walked by, but none of us intended to get very close to him, as we’re not very cow-savvy and didn’t know what he might do to us.

We continued walking. There was a real-live traditional mud hut on the right hand side of the road. Very cool. Then on the left, (the same side as the cow), were some more huts, but these were made of wood or mabati (corrugated sheet metal). There was a rather high planked fence shielding these from the road. I could see between the planks and looked for signs of life. It was pretty barren there, as it was church time, but I finally caught a glimpse of a little girl wearing lavender. She saw me and I said “hello.” (Giggle). I decided that I should tell her about the cow so that someone could rescue the poor thing. So, I attempted to tell her about it in my broken Kiswahili. “Ngombe wako (your cow) hapo (there). ?” I pointed and she looked in that direction but then just looked back at me a giggled. “Ngombe? Kichwa ni mbaya (head is bad). Hapo! Barabara (road) hapo!” (Giggle). Time to give up. “Kwaheri (good bye)!”

So, on we went. Soon, we came to two children in the road. We greeted them, shook hands, asked names, etc. But, I have to admit, that I had a sinking feeling as we tried to continue on our way and they began following us. I turned and smiled. “Kwaheri,” I said, knowing that a better missionary would invite them along to join us in our little home church service. Why did I have feel that we had the right to privacy? As we turned off the road onto a path, I was fighting within myself. This is why I came here: to love these people! But when opportunities present themselves, I’m selfish. Just wanting to be left alone. Why can’t the opportunities present themselves when we’re “ready” to minister and not in what we have deemed to be “family time?” This is the dilemma of many missionaries, the inner battle we each must fight. Especially those who live in bush or village settings.

So, Cynthia and Beatrice followed us. They really were cute. The little one, Beatrice, didn’t have on shoes. The older one, Cynthia, spoke English quite well, but humored me and answered me in Kiswahili when I spoke to her. “Umeenda kanisani?” (You have just gone to church?), I asked. “Ndiyo (yes).” Most girls in rural settings here have their heads shaved. This is often a requirement of the schools they attend. We assume it is to cut down on lice and such. Anyway, I thought Cynthia was a boy because she was dressed in worn-out athletic pants and a t-shirt. Based on her name, though, I figured it out!

We began picking our way down a trail until we came to a stream. This seemed to follow the directions we had, so we crossed it and continued on. We were looking for a waterfall at the end of the hike. I guess we could have just asked the girls to show us the way. But, again, that inner battle was raging and I couldn’t bring myself to ask and thus invite them on the entire journey. We eventually came to a point where we realized that we must have missed a turn or something. We had come upon a main road and there were quite a few people traveling on it and heading our way. Beatrice and Cynthia went to talk to friends and we turned around trying to retrace our steps. Some other children followed us, but they weren’t as friendly as the others and kept on going when we turned onto yet another path.

We finally decided that we were completely wrong and would probably never find the waterfall. We sat down in the grass, careful to not sit on or near any “safari ants” as the boys call them, (they’re really big ants that bite). We pulled out a family devotional book and the Bible and talked/prayed for about 10 minutes. While the idea to do church outside on the hike was nice, I was creeped out by the bugs, Sydney refused to sit on the ground, and Robbie was sure there were leopards and baboons in the forest. We got up and headed back.

We retraced our steps and this time were able to enjoy the view. On the right there was a huge meadow completely framed in by forests and flowers. On the left were scattered huts and animals. Some sheep were grazing by the fence. We were coming up to the cow again. Two boys popped their heads up over the fence and I tried to ask about the cow. “Yes,” they said when I asked if it was their cow. “No,” they said when I asked if they could help it. After a few more random “yes’s” and “no’s” I gave up, walked past the cow and said “pole (sorry).”

We could hear the sounds of a church service somewhere nearby. Joyful music, peoples’ voices raised to their Lord. My heart was feeling a mixture of peacefulness and discontentedness. We definitely feel at home here in Kenya now. We have learned to live here, to work here, to drive here, to cook here, to vacation here. But there is always a feeling of awkwardness, a feeling of being a bit out of place or like an outsider. Always a disconnect in the communication. Always the sense of being on display. But, even as I sit here writing this, I am reminded in my heart that this is how we as Christ-followers will always feel here on this earth. This is not our home, we are simply passing through. We do our work here, as God has given us to do, but we are strangers. Praise God that even in Africa I can feel just at home as I do anywhere, for as long as I am with Him, I am as much at home as I ever will be this side of heaven. May I keep that hope always at the forefront of my mind – in Africa, America, or wherever He leads me.