Safari Njema!

Today (Monday) the team spent at the Lake Nakuru Game Park. It was our last day together as a team 😢 but a beautiful day it was!!!

We saw so many amazing animals. The lionesses and giraffe family were definitely highlights! We ate a picnic lunch and then it rained!! In Africa!! (cue music)
The past week has been full of information and transformation. There were many lessons learned, relatíonships formed and blessings received (and hopefully given).
The downside of today was Lilia feeling ill; please pray that she can recover before she has to travel home with the team at midnight Tuesday (3pm CST).
The next part of my journey is just a trip down the road to Kijabe, where I will visit my friend Bethany and offer my services at AIC Kijabe Hospital. I'll send you updates as I'm able!

Wherever you're headed, we wish you a good journey--safari njema!
With blessings from the WBC Go Team

"Visitors bring a blessing to the home"

It was another jam-packed day for the WBC Go Team. We started the morning at AIC Milmani church, which hosts Not in Vain Ministry. These women, with the help of a local school, have identified 10 very vulnerable girls in their community and are providing holistic care for them, including food, clothing, and mentorship. They have even done training and outreach with the girls' families, in an attempt to extend their care and improve their home life.

We sang many songs with the girls, ate lunch with them and prayed for them. One of the ladies, Rebekah (green skirt,second from right), gifted them with new shirts and jumpers!

In the afternoon, Erica, Sandy, Barb, Barb and I visited a lady named Martha Kimani and some of her neighbors: Mama Lucia (a farmer), Tabitha's family (below), and Ann and her husband (tailor and cobbler, respectively).

Ann is in yellow, Martha in purple, Tabitha in white in center

Tabitha is a young blind woman, now in her 20's, who has become a teacher, taught herself the computer, composes her own music, leads transformational development seminars, and hopes to learn to play flute, piano and guitar. Because of the stigma around physical disabilities, she has not been able to find employment. I told her about my work with Friends for Therapeutic Equine Activities, and that if I could help those kids learn to ride horses, then she can reach her dreams, too! She is a special young woman and we were blessed to meet her. But as Mama Lucia said, Kenyans believe that visitors bring a blessing upon the house, so they were overjoyed to have us come. This is an interesting contrast to American thinking, where having visitors is often viewed as a nuisance. It was a beautiful day and I hope we brought blessings, indeed! 

Another awesome day

Today we visited a microfinance group called Upendo, or Love Group. They have 12 members and have invested in both livestock and handicraft projects. What an enterprising group!

We then visited the local secondary school where over 200 students attend, including the teens from Hope for Life. They assembled in the classroom above to hear Lilia speak. She encouraged them to make wise decisions by praying first and remaining in the Word, and exhorted them to continue studying. A few brave souls asked us questions afterward, mostly about prayer.

We ate another delicious lunch at Hope for Life, then Jeff, Lilia and Rhonda left to facilitate a group with widows (Josephine translated for them). Erica, Barb, Barb, Sandy, Jill and I stayed at HFL with the kids to do crafts, face painting and singing. Painting butterflies and "love" (hearts) was very much in fashion. When the others returned to HFL, we shared cake with the kids.
As we sat down to dinner and debriefing later this evening, two of our WBC pastors, Kyle and Rob, and their traveling companions called from the Nairobi airport to wish us well as we continue on our safari. They are returning home to Wheaton but they prayed for us over the phone. We are thankful that, besides a few aches and pains, everyone is healthy (and definitely happy).
As Jeff has said every evening since we've arrived, "it was another awesome day."

A Powerful Day of Prayer

Today (Thursday) was a wonderful day of powerful prayers. Lilia started the morning by praying in her heart language, Spanish. Then we went with our hostess, Josephine, to meet with the one of the district leaders of AIC, Pastor David, and after we introduced ourselves, Rhonda asked him if we could pray for him (and volunteered me to do so). He later shared with Erica that in 6 years since becoming a pastor, no one has prayed for him like that!

Josephine & me

We ate lunch at Hope for Life Kenya (HFLK), which is Josephine's passion project. We witnessed holistic care for orphans and widows, including skills training programs, a feeding program, a library, and a primary school. It was a joy to meet many of the caregivers of the children, who also weave beautiful sisal baskets in order to help sustain the program. Needless to say, MANY of these are coming home with the team!

The children greeted us with songs and we prayed for their afternoon exams:

We will get to play with them tomorrow (Friday)!

In the afternoon we visited some residents in the community who shared special stories of faith and perseverance with us: Morris, Jimmy's Grandmother (her preferred title), and Mama Virginia Timothy. They have each overcome some very hard things, but live with great joy. Mama Virginia's home has been robbed several times recently, including being hit over the head when she confronted a thief, so the team prayed for safety over her farm. When we finished, even though she hadn't understood the English, she said, "The evil has gone from this place." At an estimated 77 years old, she works 3 acres of land and keeps chickens and cows with minimal hired help! Each of these elders was an inspiration to me today. I hope that I can serve in my ministry as faithfully as they have.

"I'm praising the Living God..."

We visited several women's microfinance groups today: Rhino Grace Imperial Group, Strong Mothers' Group, and Chemchemi ya Upendo (Wellspring of Love) Group. They are impressive groups because of their love for each other and their love for God. They are resilient, overcoming grief, adversity, illness, fear, stigmatization, etc to empower each other to educate their children and provide for their families. It is a blessing and an inspiration for us to be able to visit with them, and yet they always say, "Asante Sana (thank you so much) for coming, you are a blessing to us!" We shared praise songs and encouragement from the Word, prayers, chai tea, and lunch. Their hospitality is humbling. Here are our groups of beautiful new friends:

Visiting coop projects

Today was a full day of visiting coop/microfinance community projects outside of Nakuru. We saw tree farms, fish ponds, a tailor shop, soapmaking, and dairy farming groups. We have much to learn from these beautiful people about sustainability, reconciliation, respect and empowerment.
The group we visited in the afternoon, called Dakuna, is comprised of women, mostly widows, from 3 communities who were previously at war with each other. But they have come together to receive leadership training and spiritual healing, and they like to say "it is hard to forget, but we will keep going on, moving forward together." They made us a wonderful meal of chipati (flatbread), cabbage, and goat stew with green grams (mung beans), followed by chai tea. Delicious!
Here's a few pictures of the places we visited today:

One of our drivers, Vinny, calls the adventure of driving on this bumpy road "getting an African massage"!

First full day!

Left to right: Back row: Jill, Erica, Rhonda, Justine, Judy, Jeff; Seated: Barb N, Sandy, Steve, Lilia

After losing Saturday to traveling through time zones, we are happy to report that all of our luggage (and people) arrived safely! Even better, today was a full day of African adventures! We attended church with the Morads, had lunch with both them and special guest Judy Frey (see everyone pictured above!) at Habesha Ethiopian restaurant, had close encounters with zebra on the road to Rift Valley Sports Club, checked into our rooms and enjoyed a great dinner with the Harberts. I think everyone is still recovering from jet lag, but we have a great day planned tomorrow, visiting several microfinance groups to bring encouragement to our enterprising brothers and sisters.
I think Erica said it best (last night in the van): "My face already hurts from smiling so much! We're in Africa!!"
Goodnight and God bless ❤

Halfway there...

We are currently in the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, after a great sendoff from WBC this morning! We still have 8+ hours of traveling to go, but here's a little story I wanted to share.
I don't believe in coincidences because I believe that God orchestrates every aspect of my life as His beloved child (see Jeremiah 29:11, Proverbs 19:21). So let me take you back about 17 years ago to when I dislocated my kneecap for the first time, as a gymnast. I was treated by a physical therapist named Amy. Fast forward about 13 years, I have been working as an occupational therapist for some time and my coworkers and I decide to attend a networking event (because there was free food). Much to my surprise, I crossed paths with Amy (who was now married) there! I took the opportunity to thank her for caring for me all those years ago, because she got me interested in becoming a therapist myself. Needless to say, she was touched by this.
Fast forward four more years to 2017, I am scheduled to interview with Northwestern Home Health for a new job, and my interviewer is Amy Milz, DPT. What a great God-incidence, an encouragement to both of us that He has our backs and enjoys working out the small details for us!
Result: I am starting a new job after I return from Africa, with Northwestern Home Health! Thanks be to God!

Almost ready...

Midway through packing, and things are sinking in.

On Friday, I will be on my way to Kenya! Today I had to bid farewell to my coworkers and patients, but everyone is very supportive. One very sweet elderly patient (who formerly worked in missions herself) prayed over me...twice, because her memory is poor. I'll take every blessing I can get! 💙 💜
Please continue to pray that I will secure a full-time job for my return in March, and that we'll secure our visas before Friday!

Prayer Request: Visas

I can't believe that it's January 7th! In 2 weeks we'll be in Kenya!! That is, assuming the team receives our Kenyan visas. :/ Some of us applied as early as Dec 22nd, and we haven't received them yet.  So that is our biggest prayer request right now!
A recent answered prayer is that my replacement as Director of Rehab has been hired and I am training her before I leave (my last day is Jan 16). Cheers to Rosa in her new role!
By the way, here is more about the organization we'll be working with in Nakuru, Hope for Life Kenya.
Thanks for praying!
-Justine for the Kenya GO Team (Rhonda, Jeff, Jill, Barb, Lilia & Erica)

Countdown to departure

Hi, I'm Justine. I became a Christ follower in 2005. I became an occupational therapist (OT) in 2009. Even before I graduated, God was revealing to me the immense need for occupational therapy around the world, from Egypt to Morocco to Spain to Costa Rica to Ethiopia. I have a heart for traveling the world and I am excited for the opportunity this year to travel to Kenya and Niger for 8 weeks in order to explore the possibility of connecting with a hospital on a long-term basis.
"What will you be doing for 8 weeks??"
I am co-leading a team of 7 individuals from Wheaton Bible Church WBC as we serve in Nakuru, Kenya from Jan 20-31. Then I am staying in Kijabe to serve at the hospital there until Feb 4, after which I travel to Galmi, Niger to serve in that hospital.
It will be a grand adventure and I couldn't do it without my church, my mission agency SIM USA, and all of my wonderful friends and family supporting me! THANK YOU and I hope this will keep you up to date on the journey!
While you're here, will you pray for our team as we count down to our departure on Jan 20? We are Justine, Rhonda, Jeff, Lilia, Barb, Jill, and Erica. The people we will be working with in Kenya are Josephine, Scott and Barb. All glory be to God as we serve Him in Africa!