After arriving here our journey continued with more language here, looking for a little moto to get around, learning a new town to live in, finding a car, finding and renting a home, starting a new job, to making new friends and new co-workers, furnishing our new home. painting the entire inside of our new home. Going home for the holidays and returning with only 5 days before teams arrive for 4 straight weeks.
Did I mention learning a new culture?
All in only 18 months! Wow! If anyone thinks being a missionary is a piece of cake, come see me :)
In the midst of all this, we have never experienced such a depth of joy. We continually get to see God at work through and in ourselves along with the all the staff here at SI - DR. Slowly but surely lives our being transformed through the love of Christ. Wow!
What a joy and an honor that God would choose us to be a part of all this.
I have to admit, before we came I sometimes thought in the furthest depths of my mind "Wow God, I am sacrificing a lot to be obedient to your calling to come here. I mean, I have a great paying job with benefits. I am being promoted. I stand to make a lot of money towards the end of my work career to set Karen and I up for the long run. I AM SACRIFICING ALOT HERE GOD"
THEN.............. God just opened His floodgates of blessings and here is what I have been privileged to see.
1) I have got to watch God impress upon the hearts of so many friends, family and even people I either dont know or barely know to commit to support us through either prayer, financially both
2)I have got to watch and notice that the gifts God has blessed me with - the ability to love others, no matter nationality, color or any other thing is so far and away better than any earthly gain I could have ever found.
3)I have got to see God come through in every instance of doubt or disbelief.
4)I have got to see that God is just as much at work in other parts of the world as He is in my own community
5)I have got to see American students come to the Lord, recommit their lives to the Lord, grow closer to the Lord.
6)I have got to see God grow Karen and me in both our own spiritual lives and also in our marriage.
And then I was left with feeling ashamed that "I AM SACRIFICING A LOT HERE GOD" I have sacrificed nothing compared to His Son and secondly to the measure I have been blessed.
All in only 18 months! God has proven more faithful and bigger and wiser and more loving than I think I ever understood before.
Before our last team left we had a worship time with about 75 people and I came away speechless that I just got to be a part of that experience. Not only to be a part of it but to get to be behind the scenes in the orchestration of it. Who would have thought this could be?
Not bad for only 18 months of reflection eh?
Love you all and thank you for partnering with us for the glory of God. Your sacrifice, every bit as important as our sacrifice, is reaping eternal fruit.
Love and peace,
Kenny
Until a missionary comes to start a media site, Kenny is the guy in charge of photography! When a team is with us, Kenny goes to all the sites and takes pics. The pics below are the ones he takes when participants meet their site leaders (missionaries).
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Yocasta (in pink) SI's Education site in the community of El Callejon! |
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| Vanesa is both Dentist and Missionary! |
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| Miriam (in green) and Eric (also in green) are in charge of Microfinance. Martha (far left) the very first intern Kenny and I have had here. She is awesome!!! |
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| Raul (2nd from Right) oversees the Men's Sports site! |
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| Yocasta (in green) runs SI's Education site in the community of Los Higos. |
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| Together, Mike and Karen run our Special Education site, Genesis. |
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| Hans (in green) runs our Construction site. |
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| Leo oversees the Boys Club site for SI. |
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| Katie (3rd from right) and Alberto team together to run SI's Education site in the community of Mata Gorda. |
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| Heidy (in green) runs our Social Work site in the Los Higos Community. |
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| Fernando is the doctor in charge of SI's medical site. |
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| Jess (all in black) runs our Women's Sports site! |
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| Daisy (center) from Guatemala and Kim (3rd from right) together run our Women's Social Work site in El Callejon. |
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| Rachel is a PA who just started SI's Community Health site. This was her very first team! Rachel attended our SI training last January and she also went to MTI (Missionary Training) in Colorado with us! |
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