Latest Update

Back Home?? … Not really, but almost!

After nearly 5 months in America, I arrived back in Kenya on New Year’s Eve, ready to begin my 10^th year serving in Mbita.  Among other things in the past two weeks since I have returned to Africa, I have gotten settled back into my house; reunited with friends, colleagues, students and football players; helped 80 returning secondary students go back to school;  began the new school year at CGA; and had a weekend of training with the Suba Laker Primary School football girls.  In the coming weeks as the school year moves along, we will begin preparing our 27 CGA graduates for their graduation and to join various high schools throughout the country, as well as 14 girls from our football club. 

In some ways, it feels so good to be back “home” in Kenya.  It is wonderful to connect with dear friends and to see the young ones growing and maturing into what God created them for.  I love the warm weather and beautiful sunsets over the islands on Lake Victoria.  I am in awe of the way the stars light up the sky at night as well as the fishing boats on the lake, the sound of the birds singing sweetly in the morning, and even sometimes the hippos grunting down by the lake.  I smile at the random cows, sheep and goats dotted across the landscape, especially the baby goats that can barely walk.  There is much joy in my heart walking down the road when I hear a small child shouting “Uncle Joe” as he waves energetically.  I treasure going to church and seeing the people worship God with total inhibition, singing at the top of their lungs one minute and bowing down on the dirty cement floor in reverence the next minute.  For the past 9 years of my life this has been my “home.”

But something big is missing!  This time it feels much different to be back.  That is not because I was gone for the longest stretch since I came to Kenya in 2004.  It is because a huge piece of my heart is back in Portland, OR!  I know many of you have heard about Daneen, but many of you have not until now…  

My life was turned upside down in October.  Towards the end of my travels in America, I was heading to the Great Northwest before returning home to California.  A friend that I had met in Mission Training back in 2003 and had served with his wife in Kenya several years ago, told me that when I travel to Portland I should invite his friend Daneen to any speaking engagement I would have because she lived in Africa for a couple of years and is passionate about that continent.  I followed through with that advice and invited her to a small reception I was having for friends.  I was immediately attracted to her, and it wasn’t because of the delicious Apple Pie she had baked (though that didn’t hurt either).  Not only was she beautiful, intelligent, passionate, warm, friendly and outgoing, but she even worked for a non-profit that provides college scholarships to students in Africa!  What a perfect fit for CGA (and me)!  That was a great excuse to see her again at her office to discuss partnering with CGA.  Our relationship grew at a very rapid rate, probably because we were both at that stage where we were ready to find someone to share our lives with.  At the same time we were both very open, honest and ready to talk about our deepest desires, passions, struggles and weaknesses.  Towards the end of 11 amazing days together in Southern California I told Daneen I was postponing my flight back to Kenya for a month (until Dec. 30) so that I could spend a couple of weeks in Portland with her and then a week with her family in Pennsylvania at Christmas time.  I proposed to her with a poem on December 27^th at a point overlooking her hometown of York, PA.  We are planning a wedding for early next summer and then will be returning to Kenya in July for another wedding and to serve together in Mbita. 

So that is what is missing here in Kenya... DANEEN!!... my new “home.”  It is exciting to know that wherever God leads us in the coming years, we will always be at home because we will be together until we reach our ultimate home with our Father in heaven!       

It has been another incredible adventure for me that has the fingerprints of God all over it.  My life will never be the same again!  I can’t do justice to the story in a short e-mail update because once I get going I could fill up a hundred pages talking about Daneen and what she has brought to my life in the past few months.  If you want to read more, check out the stories on my blog:

http://www.joekenya.blogspot.com/p/love-story.html

 

My Time in America

During my time on furlough, I had travelled all over America seeing friends and family, and sharing about the work that God is doing in the lives of the young people in Mbita.  It was tiring and tedious with lots of travelling and staying in different places all the time, but at the same time it was wonderful reuniting with incredible friends and telling the great stories of hope that I have seen with my own eyes and experienced firsthand over the years in Kenya.  If you were not able to hear me speak while I was home, you can listen to one of my presentations at:

Joe speaking at Harvest Springs

I saw God’s provision through it all as I learned lessons of trusting in Him.  My faith continues to grow as I rely on God daily and see Him at work throughout the world.  The last 9 years of my life have been an incredible adventure serving God in Kenya.  I would have never dreamed up this path for myself and would have never come if I hadn’t felt God’s call so strongly.  Looking back I can say that it has been the best nine years of my life.  I can’t imagine living anywhere else or doing anything different at this time in my life.  At the same time though, something has been missing.  I don’t think I even realized it was missing, until Daneen finally came into my life…

I know many of you have been praying for a wife for me.  Thanks for your faithfulness in praying.  God is so good and answers prayer beyond our wildest imagination.  This next “season” will be incredibly busy and challenging.  I need your prayers more than ever!  Thanks for your support!

Prayer Requests:

1)      Pray for the Lord’s guidance in my relationship with Daneen as we grow to know each other deeper while we are apart.  Pray that together we would bring even more glory to Him than we have as individuals.    

2)      Pray for God’s financial provision for the 8^th grade graduates from CGA and the Suba Lakers so that they will be able to join high school in February.  Pray for their hearts and minds to be prepared for the rigors of boarding secondary schools.