Kenya Missions trip
Dear friend,
Hi! If you’re getting this letter, you have either heard me talk about the missions’ trip that I was going on this summer, or you’ve unknowingly supported me financially (yikes!). LOL. Either way, I wanted to first off thank you for allowing me to share more details about the exciting opportunity I’ve been given this summer!
From July 17th to July 28th, I and 14 members of my church (Praise Presbyterian) will be going to Kenya to partner with the ministry of Bethany Missions Center near Kenya’s second largest city, Mombasa to share God’s word! How exciting right?
I was first presented this opportunity through my friend, Harry, at church. He shared about his aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Young-Chan and Soo-Ja Lee, who are currently serving as missionaries in Kenya. His uncle and aunt had recently visited Harry and his family during their furlough, and shared about their ministry in Mombasa. After listening to their testimony, Harry felt a strong calling to organize a short term missions’ trip to help out with the effort there. He spoke with our church’s leadership and they agreed it would be a great opportunity.
Here are some details from Harry:
My uncle and aunt have been serving as missionaries in Kenya since 2001. In 2005, they were led to move near Mombasa, a predominantly Muslim area on the southeast coast of Kenya. This area is predominantly occupied by two tribal groups, the Digowa and Duruma. By 2007, the Bethany Missions Center compound was constructed in a town named Matuga, where 99% of the locals identify themselves as Muslim. Bethany Missions Center has an exciting and ambitious vision to share the gospel to this region through education, youth ministry, public school outreach, church planting, leadership training, and clean-water well supporting.
During our time in Kenya, we will be working with 3 different schools and doing local outreach as well. We are developing a curriculum of Bible Stories, English Classes, Sports/Games, Arts/Crafts, and possibly Music or Math to share with the students. Bethany Missions Center opened a Kindergarten in January 2009 and we will be working with them when we first arrive. Then we will be spending two days each in Maponda Primary (Grades K-8) and Tsimba Secondary (Grades 9-12). Maponda Primary and Tsimba Secondary are public schools that will completely shut down their normal schedule while we are there. We will have complete control over the curriculum for two 8-hour days. It is actually pretty amazing to have that type of access. We expect to be extremely busy as Maponda Primary has close to 600 students! For many students, this will be their first exposure to the Bible and to the gospel. Please pray that God would lead our time of preparation. After working with the schools, we will spend 2 days in Chizimbani Village doing door-to-door evangelism and inviting the locals to Sunday Service.
It’s strange, but after speaking with Harry about Kenya, my initial reaction was a sense of excitement and a strong desire to participate.
But the conservative (specifically, fiscal) side of me had a lot of questions: Why should I be spending this large amount of money to go on a trip that is only for 2 weeks? Do you know what kind of economy we’re in right now? Isn’t going on a trip an extravagant expenditure? How will I come up with the money? Should I be spending money while my wife and I are saving to prepare for a family and home? Why do I need to go all the way to Kenya to spread the Good News? Aren’t you being a bad husband by going without your wife? What kind of impact do you think you’ll actually be making, Rob?
On paper, there were a lot of reasons why this trip didn’t “make sense”. Yet through all of it, I felt a strange tugging in my heart that wouldn’t go away. I decided that I would spend time praying about it and let God make the decision for me.
Then some crazy things started to happen. I began to get answers to my questions and resolutions to my concerns.
The money started to come out of nowhere. Money was provided through various means to the point where it is no longer a concern.
Despite being unable to attend because of work, my wife, Soo, has been extremely supportive of me going. She has been extremely encouraging throughout the whole process. This reminded me how lucky a guy I am. =D
So the only unanswered question that remained was: What impact are you going to have in Kenya, Rob? When I continued through my meditation, I saw a slow transformation in answering this question. It no longer became what am I going to do, but what is God going to do. How will God use this missions’ trip to make an impact with the Kenyans? How will God use this trip to impact each team member in his or her spiritual life? I am excited to see what God has in store for us!
During my short inadequate preparation for this trip, I have found that an overall theme has become prevalent. It is the need for prayer. Whenever I address my concerns to God, he answers. And though there are times when these answers aren’t what I’m expecting or desire, I have found peace in His decisions.
As I close this letter, I come to the most uncomfortable part and that is a request for support. I’ve been told the better way to think about it is to call it a partnership. So that is my simple request to you: your partnership. I ask for your partnership in spending a few minutes of your time to pray for me. I know some of you don’t believe in God but I still challenge you to try it. I know it will be tough but think of it in this way: it’s like the Megamillions drawing. You never know.
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter. I’d be happy to share more details about the trip whenever you have time. Lunch is on me! =D
Your Brother in Christ,
Robert Kim
Prayer Requests:
For the Team:
- Pray that God would adequately prepare our team through disciplined meditation of the Gospel and prayer, so that we are able to lovingly share about the love of Christ.
- Pray for the students that we will be working with: Bethany Kindergarten, Tsimba Secondary, Maponda Primary; that our sharing of the Word and summer program would penetrate their hearts, so that they are able to know and love Christ.
- Pray for our team’s physical and spiritual health during our time there.
For Missionaries and the Mombasa Area:
- Pray for the local public school outreach and discipleship. That God’s Wisdom would lead so that their ministry would be most effective.
- Pray that Mr. and Mrs. Lee will be able to disciple and train local Kenyans, so that they can take on leadership roles and in the community.
- Pray for sustained physical and spiritual strength for all the missionaries there.
| Kenya Flag and Fast Facts | ||
| Location: Eastern Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Somalia and TanzaniaPopulation 39,002,772 Capital Area Language Literacy Percent |
Religions: Protestant 45%, Roman Catholic 33%, Muslim 10%, indigenous beliefs 10%, other 2%note: Estimates for the percentage of the population that adheres to Islam or indigenous beliefs vary widely
Age structure: 0-14 years: 42.3% 15-64 years: 55.1% 65 years and over: 2.6% Median age: total: 18.7 years male: 18.6 years female: 18.8 years |
|
Sources: CIA.GOV and National Geographic
Facts from Mission Statement:
Mombasa
- 2nd largest city in Kenya where we will be flying into.
Kwale
- Region 1 hour away from Mombasa
- Populated by Digo and Duruma tribes
- 80-90% Muslim
Matuga
- 99% Digo Muslim town
- Bethany Missions Center complex built here.
Leave a Reply