Andy and his piki-piki

Beating Nairobi’s infamous traffic while keeping dry and looking fashionable take a team effort.

You’ll notice Andy’s ensemble begins with the requisite helmet. A gift from Daniel McLaughlin and previously Max Katzer.

Next we find the mostly rainproof jacket (Craiglist, $100) complemented nicely by the Buell monostrap backpack, on loan from Jonathan Broga.

Covering Andy’s lower half we find rainproof and padded “overpants”, from New Enough apparel.

Rounding out the ensemble are Andy’s 12 year old waterproof goretex hiking boots ($120 back in 1997)

The bike? A Honda 650XL on loan from Caleb Clay, an SIM aircraft mechanic. (Please pray Andy finds his own before Caleb returns in December!)

Honorable mentions also go to Matthew and Aaron Blick, Glen Collison, and the illinois Department of Motor Vehicles for the assistance in learning to ride and getitng a license this summer. (Glen… sorry again about dropping your bike!)

No, we haven’t, in case you’d wondered. Yes, we know we haven’t sent an email since March 5. No, it’s not because the rainy season knocked out the internet to all of east africa. Yes, it’s because we’re busy and sometimes lazy and forgetful, and often both at once. Consequently, since we skipped a month, we have a TON to tell you about!

During the past two months, we have moved to a transitional home on a AIM missionary compound. Also, Lesa had her wrist surgery which ended up being fairly significant and is taking a while to recover fully. Praise the Lord that it is doing better every day!

Overlooking Rift Valley

Mom & Dad

We began our journey over the past few months with the visit from Andy’s parents over Easter. We had a wonderful time with them, somehow squeezing in trips to Kibera, an overnight ride on the Lunatic Line (go rent “Ghost in the Darkness“), a few days at the beach, a move, visits to the Rift Valley and Kijabe, and a game drive. Read the full story here.

Filming in North Africa

On-Field Media

The OFM has been PDB (pretty darn busy) serving AIM throughout EA – East Africa (we are an organization that loves abbreviating).

Andy’s got a few more stamps in his passport, and some great photos and stories as well.

North African man

In March, Ted and I (Andy) went on a trip. We met some amazing national believers, some amazing Christian workers there, got spat on, rocks thrown at us, and all kinds of frontier-missionary kinds of stories to tell. Get our photos here, and read Ted’s story here.

Earlier this month, we went to northern coastal Mozambique, to work with a family there who are working among an unreached people group there. We flew about 3 hours to Pemba, drove 6 hours (way past the end of the paved roads!), and spent 2.5 days among the Mwani people there. Get photos here.

Mozambique hospital

We are very very excited that Tim Lang will be joining OFM as an intern this coming fall. The Lang family are great friends of ours, and we’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Tim quite well over the past 6 years at DCC. Tim will be spending his gap year with AIM, doing videography and traveling with OFM. Please pray for Tim as he is raising his support over the next few months.

Lesa’ Ministries

My involvement in the Inbound Program, which brings/receives/trains short-term and now also full-term missionaries from around the world to AIM International Services is growing and going well. I’m so grateful to now have a team of 3 others working with me and we are in prayer for the Lord to send us someone with administrative skills/time to lend to the work. It is such a blessing to introduce people to Kenya and to missionary life.

A new development for me (Lesa) was just finalized yesterday. I’m going to be volunteering as the high school drama director at a school similar to the Robbie and Avery’s school (yet larger and older). It has an international student population made up of Americans, Kenyans, British, Koreans, etc. Their current director is returning to the States and leaving behind a well-established program. We are excited about this as a family – to be involved heavily again in the lives of teens, have an outlet for our creativity, and to be involved in teaching/promoting the arts in this community where exposure to the arts can be limited.

Rehearsals will be 2 – 3 days a week after school and we’ll produce a play in the fall and a musical in the spring!! I’m seeing this as a move back to my original vision in college of teaching the fine arts on the mission field. Isn’t God incredible?

Avery & Sydney

The Kids

Robbie and Avery have one week left of school. They have both had an amazing year at West Nairobi School. We have been so impressed with the quality of teaching and how much the boys truly like school! Robbie will be going to summer camp for a week this summer, and all three kids will be attending VBS at their school for a week. Sydney has been doing some home-school preschool with Mommy at home. She loves learning and calls Lesa, “Teacher.” It’s so cute! All three kids have loved living on the compound, as there are many other children here and they run and play all day long.

How We Are Doing… Really

The past two months haven’t been the easiest, but things have been getting better. When we lost our last “permanent” home in April, the adjustment to living in yet another house, along with Lesa’s surgery, and some other random incidents, our spirits dipped pretty low. But, He has also remained faithful through it all. We’ve been learning more and more of His great love for us – even when we doubt and especially when we struggle. He has provided for us what we see as the just the right home to settle into (of course, permanence takes on a whole new meaning here). It is located near our old neighborhood, and is the home of some of our new friends who unfortunately are leaving the field. They have done some amazing improvements to it during their time here! We will be moving there in early June.

Robbie piloting the DC3

Support

It takes a miracle each and every month to keep us here. It’s really amazing and encouraging to us to see how God provides the $5500 each month that is required to live here. Thank you to all who have continued to give sacrifically.

Truthfully, we are slightly undersupported, as the support rate was raised this year in accordance with cost-of-living inflation… including the boys’ school tuition. We trust God to continue to provide. In addition, if we raise any extra monthly support, we would like to put Sydney in a Kenyan preschool here in the fall – we think she would greatly benefit from the social interaction – especially getting to know Kenyans. Some of you supported us abundantly last spring with a one-time check when we were leaving for the field. Would you prayerfully consider renewing your gift this year to help us continue our ministries here?

Also, thank you to all who have given to our vehicle project. We have almost paid for the 1973 Land Rover we agreed to purchase from the Delorenzos. You’ve provided $4500 of the $6500 we need to finish paying it off and making some necessary repairs (radiator, fuel tank, rear shock). If you’d like to give to this project, click here and type in our name, select “project” and enter “Vehicle” as the project name. Thank you!

Prayer requests

* AIM AIR incident: This past month, our AIM IS community had a shock when one of our planes crashed on take-off in Sudan. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt. We do ask for prayers for the pilot’s family, friends of ours, who are continuing to process the incident, and also for the several passengers who were on board. Full story here.

* Kenyan people: Following the election crisis, life here has certainly returned to some level of normalcy. However, food and gas prices have sky-rocketed and the poorest people have been affected the most. Please pray for the inflation to cease and for prices to lower.

* Our upcoming move – our 4th house here. (Enough said).

* Our support needs

in closing

We close this, our 11th newsletter in 12 months, with the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 5:

And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

Amen!

Andy, Lesa, Robbie, Avery, Sydney

Mom, Lesa, and Wycliffe in Kibera

Easter Sunday we went to Nairobi Chapel and then home for an Easter egg hunt and a big late lunch (photos here). Monday we had our friend Wycliffe take mom and dad and Lesa on a tour of Kibera, visiting the church that DCC helped sponsor and even making some home visits with Kibera residents. We wrapped up the day with Kenyan staple foods ugali and sukuma at Wycliffe’s tiny 1 room apartment on the edge of Kibera.

Robbie piloting the DC3

Mom, Robbie, Lesa at Nairobi Safari Walk

The next day we toured the AIM AIR hangar, home to International Services, our division of AIM. While the kids crawled in and out of the airplanes, we visited with pilots and mechanics. We wrapped up with lunch at the Simba Saloon.

The next day we went to the Nairobi Safari Walk, adjacent to the Nairobi Game Park. We saw pigmy hippos, albino zebra, a rhino, a leopard and a cheetah among other things. Then we spent the afternoon finishing packing for our overnight train ride to Mombasa.

Sydney eating breakfast on the Lunatic Line

Our private room on the train

The train was quite an experience. It takes 45 minutes to fly from Nairobi to Mombasa, or a bone-jarring 8 or 9 hours in a car, or a slow 16 hours by train. Honestly, if I had to do it again I still would have picked the train. If we could have been better prepared we might have slept better, but the kids had a blast, which is why I would choose it again (versus being crammed together in a car, stopping for potty breaks, not to mention riding in our Land Rover for that long would be guaranteed to give you a headache). The train, while slow and constantly stopping, at least gave us private sleepers, supper and breakfast, and the opportunity to go potty when you wanted. Not to mention getting to stretch out and relax, since I wasn’t having to drive!

Our beach house

Indian Ocean

Our time in Mombasa was great. Roger (dad’s brother) met us at the train station and drove us to the house they’d rented for the week. Just north on Mombasa, right on the beach, the house had a small pool that the kids enjoyed, and the immediate oceanfront was an awesome coral reef full of starfish and lionfish and jellyfish and all kinds of cool stuff. It was shallow enough that even Robbie and Avery could snorkel around and enjoy. The house even came with a cook, who prepared and cleaned up every meal for us. Now that’s what I call a vacation!

We flew back, because mom and dad had an early Monday flight to Malawi where they visited with good friends who have been in Africa for 30 years or something crazy like that. While they were away we packed and moved out of our house. We scattered all our stuff all over the place as the house we are staying in temporarily is fully furnished (and on a compound, not in a Kenyan neighborhood as before). Couches went to one house, dining room set to another, and a bunch of stuff went into a sea container for storage. Beginning of June we’ll move back to the estates (Kenyan neighborhoods) and try to remember where we put everything.

Overlooking Rift Valley

Lunch at Tumaini gardens

After mom and dad came back from Malawi, we spent the last week doing stuff around Nairobi. We drove up to the overlook of the Rift Valley, had a picnic lunch at RVA, drove some really rough roads down to the “lower road” and back to Nairobi. We also went to Roger & Shirley’s church and had a nice picnic lunch at Tumaini, where they live and work. One morning I even put mom and dad on a matatu by themselves and sent them out to Karen by themselves. They toured Robbie and Avery’s school, and had lunch with them there.

Mom taking photos

Mom taking photos

The last day of their time here we got up early and went on a game drive. We picnicked and saw a lot of giraffe, zebra, baboon, antelope, warthog, and even some crocodile. We wrapped our time up with them with supper at Java House, and then I drove them to airport. Exhausted, but very very happy. And a little sad that the event I’d been looking forward to since arriving in Kenya last June had come and gone, and we won’t see them again for another 14 or 15 months.  We’ll miss you, mom and dad.

In a nutshell, there has been a great deal of unexpected unrest all over Kenya since the results of the election unfolded this past weekend. Hundreds have died in tribal-related violence over the disputed election results. This being a usually peaceful country, the extreme violence has surprised us all.

At this point, we have cancelled our vacation to Mombasa that we had planned and will continue to stay put here in Nairobi. We have just completed our 4th day of being in the house – though Andy ventured out today in search for some food! Our neighborhood has been quiet and peaceful. There was only one point yesterday afternoon when we became concerned – we could hear a mob and police gunfire in a market area not far from us, close to Kibera slums. This occurred at the same time as a protest rally was being thwarted in another area of the city. We are awaiting some kind of move towards a resolution on the part of the political leaders, as well as another rally set to occur on Thursday.

Prayer Requests:

- Please pray for this country – that the leaders will resolve their issues politically and not incite violence amongst their followers.

- Please pray that people will see that no election is worth these deaths, and that wisdom and peace will prevail.

- Please pray that God will provide for the physical needs of all in Nairobi and around the country as our food supplies are running low and the markets/grocery stores are emptying quickly.

- Please pray for the safety of our Kenyan friends as they, like us, are trying to stay out of the way of those causing this violence.

- Please pray for all of the missionaries who are making decisions for their safety while still trying to do their work in this uncertain time – particularly for those in the town of Eldoret who are being evacuated.

- Please pray that God will knit our family closer together during this time of much “togetherness” and that we will all grow to lean on Him even more.

Thank you all for your prayers and love.

In Him,

Andy, Lesa, Robbie, Avery, and Sydney

Here is a run-down of what has occurred in the past week: The election was held last Thursday.  There are many parties here in Kenya, and the election process is very different than what we are used to.  Many people follow a party based on tribal lines, even though this is a “metropolitan” city.  Therefore the tribal animosities arise during election time especially.  The two main candidates were Kibaki (who was already president) and Raila.  In the first couple of days after the election, it looked as if Raila was winning.  Many people wanted him to win with the hope that life might get better for them than it has been under Kibaki.  There is a general mistrust of the government and here – as corruption has always been a reality in this country.

On Saturday, they spent hours reading election results live on TV, only to tell us that not all of the results were in yet.  There is an electoral commission here that is supposedly not influenced by the government.  This is who has been running the process.  Raila was still in the lead on Saturday, though it was a very small lead.  His supporters became violent in places across the country because they believed that it was taking so long because Kibaki’s people were rigging the election.  The violence was directed towards those of a specific tribe (Kibaki’s: Kikuyu) – their homes and businesses.

Come Sunday morning, everyone was glued to the TV (or radio) thinking that they were finally going to announce it.  People waited all day long, growing very impatient as they are very passionate about the elections.  We had the TV on all day, too, and absolutely nothing was progressing.

Finally, late in the day, a bizarre string of events occurred.  First, Raila gave a statement that the election was being rigged and there should be a recount.  Then the electoral commission was about to give the results and people in the press room were getting fired up about it.  The chairman of the commission left the room, the power went out, and then they evacuated all of the press from the building.  Then we find out that the commission told one of the TV networks privately that Kibaki had won by about 200,000 votes (out of 7 million!) and that network then announced it over the news. Then, Kibaki was sworn in within the hour in a very “British” ceremony and it was supposedly all over!

Of course, the Raila supporters are not happy about this. Not happy in the least! Kibaki, in an effort to keep violence under control, banned all live media broadcasts.  That has been the weirdest part of the whole thing, as we have been “in the dark” ever since the announcement.  We have told you before about Kibera slums, which is about a mile from our house.  This is where much of the violence is happening, as we have been reading on the internet – but we have no way of knowing what is really happening since the news hasn’t been covering it.

To calm any of your worries, though, the violence is pretty localized in the slums and our neighborhood is actually very quiet.  We are also not on any major roads, so that also keeps us from “centers” of activity.  We can’t hear much of anything, which we would have been able to if it were anywhere close.  You can read about it on the internet, but please remember that the pictures you see there don’t represent our neighborhoods.

We personally weren’t rooting for either candidate.  And now, after all of this, we see problems on both sides.  We also don’t personally know Kenyans from either tribe, though we know Kenyans who were voting for these candidates.  We do know some people who live in Kibera and we are concerned for them and their safety.  We also have friends whose ministries are in Kibera and we are certain that this whole situation is very distressing to them.  If you want to see some of the footage that Andy took in Kibera a couple of months ago, you can see some of it in the Psalm 40 video we have posted here on the website.

So our request to you now is that you pray for Kenya, that peace will prevail and people will not resort to violence to express their frustrations.  Please pray that officials will deal with the situation with wisdom, honesty, and integrity.  Please also pray for AIM to receive correct information as the organization makes decisions for us.  Please pray the safety of all missionaries and that we would be able to promote peace amongst our Kenyan friends and colleagues.  Personally, we pray for wisdom as we try to make the right decision about our vacation which we were supposed to leave for tomorrow morning.  We will probably delay leaving until the we have a better understanding of the situation.

We love you all and appreciate your prayers!

Andy and Lesa

Either way it’s going to be a close race, and half the country is going to be upset about the results.

The streets here are like a ghost town, either because people are glued to their TVs or because they’re afraid to go out.

We’re doing fine. Had a little impromptu party yesterday with the stay-in-your-homes request from AIM, and are doing well. We’re just anxious for this thing to be over so people’s lives here can go back to normal.

Well, we’ve been asked to remain in our homes for today, for good measure. I know some mission organizations here actually required their missionaries to go back to the US during this time. But, we’re waiting it out.

The issue with living in Nairobi right now is that this is a Kikuyu area, and it looks like Mwai Kibaki, a Kikuyu, is about to lose his seat as president to Raila Odinga, a Luo. For the past 2 days the news here has been droning on and on with election results (they’re still counting). Right now, out of 7 million votes, Kibaki is trailing by only 400,000. People are starting to get anxious because it is taking so long. Who knows what they’ll do when Raila is certified as the new president.

Tensions in Kenya Over Election Results

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY – 1 hour ago

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Hundreds of people stoned cars and rival ethnic groups fought in a sprawling slum Saturday amid tensions over delayed results from the closest presidential election in Kenya’s history, witnesses said.

A millionaire opposition leader who cast himself as a champion of the poor appears poised to win the race, but only partial and unofficial tallies have been released from Thursday’s vote.

In the Kibera slum, the main constituency of opposition candidate Raila Odinga, young men with machetes were running through the maze of potholed tracks and ramshackle dwellings. People set up makeshift roadblocks.

About 20 miles outside Nairobi, hundreds of people were massed along a main highway.

“They are looting houses and stoning cars,” Irungu Wakogi, a witness, told The Associated Press by telephone.

Kenya poll delay sparks violence

Disturbances marred the elections after persistent rumours of voting rigging [AFP]

Protests and looting have erupted in Kenya after the country said there would be a delay in announcing results for the hotly contested presidential election.

Supporters of Raila Odinga, the opposition leader who has taken an early lead in the poll, lit bonfires and stoned passing cars on Saturday in Nairobi’s Kibera slum after accusing Mwai Kibaki, the incumbent president, of vote rigging.

Meanwhile, in western Kisumu city in Odinga’s homeland, hundreds of angry youths took to the streets, lighting fires, ransacking shops and blocking roads, Reuters reported.

“We are wondering why they are not announcing the winner yet we know him. They are planning to rig the elections,” John Oloo, one of the demonstrator in Kisumu, told AFP.

Also read:

Protests break out in Kenya over vote tallying delays

Tensions in Kenya Over Election Results

Things are fine at our house, we are safe and not worried about ourselves. The truth is, we’re having a little impromptu party today… we have a friend from RVA stranded here, and our next door neighbors over, watching movies, playing games. Kind of like a holiday for us, but please pray for Kenya today…

Our backyard

Greetings once again from the city of cold water (that’s what Nairobi means in Kikuyu)! At least 4 days of the week that is true, the other 3 days it is the city of “hakuna maji”, or no water. Which is why we have 2 giant tanks in our back yard to store up water to get us through the dry days. Which means no laundry and few showers during half the week, making up for it on the other end.

Not that things are dry here, quite the opposite in fact. The short rains (one of two rainy seasons here) have started this week and everything is muddy and wet. It’s even cold, which helps us remember that back home people are getting their turkeys and raking leaves and thinking about Christmas. It’s going to be a weird Christmas for us here, the start of summer and probably the 1st time we’ll have been hot since we left the US at the end of June.

On Field Media

Andy in the northern Kenya desert

The last time we wrote an update I (Andy) was just starting my job with the new On Field Media team. Mike and Ted and I have had a great time the past couple months pulling together our first video project and building our website to host all our content.

Andy and Ted in front of a Rendille hut

Our 1st video, Psalm 40, is a worship video. Ted and I shot all the footage, in Kibera slums at a literacy class, in another slum at a health clinic, in Machakos at Scott Theological College, and in Korr, Kenya, in the remote desert northern frontier. After weeks of planning, 2 weeks of shooting, and 1 week of editing, we finished and are now presenting it for you, our friends and family, as an opportunity to get a glimpse of life throughout Kenya, as well as worship God in a greater understanding of the work he is doing here.

You can watch the video and check out the OFM website (also by me!) here: http://aim-ofm.org.

Kibera child

I also had the amazing opportunity in each of those places to take some incredible photos. Not that the photos are incredible as a result of my skills, but really the result of a great camera (thanks again Andy Peterson!) and a country full of beautiful people and children just waiting for a camera to tell their story. You can see the best photos on our website.

Teaching ministry

As you know, I (Lesa) have been waiting on God’s direction for ministry here. He has opened up a few doors that have, honestly, surprised me, including a chance to speak to some women at our friends’ church about the Discipling ministry I have been involved with since college. In preparing for my talk, God pulled together many pieces of my experiences to see how this ministry truly transforms lives (including my own!) and could transform a church, and clarified more how this ministry is optimally organized – based on my own experiences and on a great book “Transforming Discipleship” by Greg Ogden.

Now, I have another opportunity to get together with some of these women, a mixture of Kenyans and missionaries, again to go into more detail about it. Along the same lines, I also have a chance to do a workshop at our January AIM ladies’ retreat on “Breathing New Life into Your Daily Time with God.” I would love to see this all grow into a broader ministry here – but know I must wait on God to orchestrate it. Please pray for me that I will follow God’s direction and be patient with the results.

Worship ministry

We will also be leading a workshop at next week’s regional conference called “Guitar and Piano for Worship.” We hope to equip people who find themselves leading worship for Bible studies, meetings, or church, but who don’t feel confident in their abilities. Andy will also teach a workshop at the conference called, “Using the Internet as a Tool to Communicate with Supporters.” As you know, Andy is so amazing and creative at this, and many people are already asking us how he does it.

We are excited, also, that many doors are opening for us to be “worship leaders to missionaries” as we had originally envisioned. We have been leading weekly at a youth group, Lesa has been leading for her ladies’ Bible study, we are leading at the conference next week for two of the main sessions, and a few more upcoming opportunities.

Church

24 Sundays ago we worshiped with our home church who loved us and knew us well. The past 24 weeks we have worshiped at 18 different churches, and while that has been wonderful for some reasons, it has been hard for others. It has been hard to sit on the sidelines after being in the game for 10 years, every Sunday. And we long to fellowship with a church that knows community like our home church and where we can experience that community with Kenyans, and are still waiting on the Lord to find out how we might be involved in serving in a local church. Please continue to pray for us as we are searching for a church home and how involved we should be at the local church level.

Family

The kids at the Maasai Ostrich Ranch

Robbie and Avery have been enjoying West Nairobi School – making new friends and doing well at their studies. African life is becoming more and more “familiar” to the kids, which is a relief to us parents. Robbie had his 9th birthday in September, Sydney turned 3 in November, and Lesa turned ?? in October, so we’ve had a good time celebrating for first birthdays here (though baking cakes in our somewhat sketchy oven has been an experience)! We have been enjoying our house, but have struggled since we moved in to find a place for our office/studio equipment. God is so faithful and has provided us an opportunity to move into a different house at the end of this year that has a room for an office AND an extra bedroom for guests! Now you all have no excuse not to visit us!! It also has an extra big yard for the kids to play with our new German Shepherd puppy who has been providing us all with hours of entertainment.

Finances

Financially, we are blown away each month by the gifts that have come in. Blown away at the size of this task, each and every month, and that God is faithful to answer it, through you!

We’ve found out, during the past month or so, that we are slightly undersupported, and that the support rates for missionaries in East Africa are going up, across the board, at the end of the year. This is mainly a cost-of-living increase, and we are thankful to see the support rates going up as we have realized how hard it is to feed the ever growing appetite of our children (Robbie now eats more than Andy!). We also try to have enough “excess” funds to be able to help our Kenyan friends when needs arise.

Anyhow, we need around $500/month more in support by the beginning of next year. Clicking the green AIM banner on our website is probably the easiest way to do it. Like we said, we have been blown away each month at what God has provided, and know that he’s not going to send us home over such a small thing as money. We trust completely that he will provide, and ask you to continue praying with us for our trust and his provision.

Closing

Our street

As we say each time, we are so thankful to God, and to each of you who support us in your prayers and in your sacrifical giving. So thankful for the opportunity to be here.

Trying to be obedient, one step at a time,

Andy, Lesa, Robbie, Avery, Sydney