Hello again everyone!
A lot has happened since I last wrote to everyone. I moved into the house I will be staying in for the rest of my time here. It is a lot nicer than I was expecting. My roommate Caleb is house sitting for a family that is on home assignment so the house is fully furnished and decorated and really feels like a home. It has been interesting, though, because I have only seen Caleb twice and he has only spent the night at the house once since I moved in on Tuesday. This is because Monday night he was in a motorcycle accident on his way home from the hangar. He broke his arm and had to have surgery and was in the hospital for a couple days. He has since then been spending the night with another family because the wife is a nurse. It has been good that I have had to figure a lot of stuff out on my own though because I am not a lot more confident in myself that if Caleb had done everything. He did stay at the house last night but that was the first time since I have moved in. I will try and get some pictures of the house up in not too long but I don't have internet access at the house and need to figure out the best place to use the internet.
Work at the hangar has been fun. The guys I work with are great! They are so helpful and love to answer any questions I have. There is a lot of work right now and they have plenty of stuff for us to do. Especially since Caleb (who is also a mechanic) will not be able to work for a while. It has been exciting to talk to some of the pilots and hear what they are doing in different parts of East Africa. I can't wait to get on a flight! They are doing such amazing things!
Continue to pray for the country and people of Kenya. I am not sure how much is still on the news in the states but there are several places in the country that are still pretty volatile. Nairobi is stable but some places out in the bush continue to suffer pointless violence. Just yesterday about a dozen people were killed and several houses burned down in the town of Nakura. Pray for them!
I appreciate all of your prayers and look forward to everything God is going to do.
In Christ,
~Nathan
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Orientation
So far the orientation has gone very well. We have been busy but it has been very useful. We have had one short Kiswahili lesson and have two more (tomorrow and Tuesday). We also were shown several local shopping centers where we can get just about anything. We also had a public transportation lesson. The main form of public transportation are matatus. They are basically small minivans that seat 14-16 people. One of the Kenyan workers at Mayfield showed us which routes we will be taking from our houses to the airport and how to get back. I still will need someone to go with me the first couple times.
On Tuesday we move out of Mayfield and into our houses for the rest of our trip. I will begin working in the hangar on Wednesday. I am very excited to get to work! I have met a few of the people I will be working with and they are all great. I went to breakfast, church, and lunch with Randy Gottfried (AIM Air's Director of Maintenance Operations) and his family. It was really nice. We had Ethiopian food for lunch and it was excellent! Randy was telling me that there is a lot of work to do at the hangar and that I will have no problem jumping right in. He also said that he is a big fan of people getting outside of Nairobi and seeing what the rest of the country and the surrounding countries are like. I am very excited to travel around! Well, I have a full day of language lessons and several meetings tomorrow so I am off to bed!
In Christ,
~Nathan
P.S. On the right side of my blog I have added a link to a photogallery for my trip. I will add more pictures periodically, so keep checking! Just click on the picture labeled "Kenya 2008".
On Tuesday we move out of Mayfield and into our houses for the rest of our trip. I will begin working in the hangar on Wednesday. I am very excited to get to work! I have met a few of the people I will be working with and they are all great. I went to breakfast, church, and lunch with Randy Gottfried (AIM Air's Director of Maintenance Operations) and his family. It was really nice. We had Ethiopian food for lunch and it was excellent! Randy was telling me that there is a lot of work to do at the hangar and that I will have no problem jumping right in. He also said that he is a big fan of people getting outside of Nairobi and seeing what the rest of the country and the surrounding countries are like. I am very excited to travel around! Well, I have a full day of language lessons and several meetings tomorrow so I am off to bed!
In Christ,
~Nathan
P.S. On the right side of my blog I have added a link to a photogallery for my trip. I will add more pictures periodically, so keep checking! Just click on the picture labeled "Kenya 2008".
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Arrival
I am now in Nairobi. All of the flights went very well and both of the long flights were practically empty so there was plenty of room to stretch out. The first few days here will consist of an orientation and then next week I will begin working in the hanger.
All of my baggage arrived and so did the baggage of the people I travelled with. That was an answer to prayer. I will keep everyone updated, nut for now I am going to bed.
In Christ,
~Nathan
All of my baggage arrived and so did the baggage of the people I travelled with. That was an answer to prayer. I will keep everyone updated, nut for now I am going to bed.
In Christ,
~Nathan
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
On My Way!
I can't believe I am leaving today! I am so excited! God has been amazing and the weather is great today! What an answer to prayer! Please pray for safe travel for me and my baggage and that we both arrive in the same place at the same time. Pray that there will be no problems with customs or anything along the way and that everything will go smoothly.
I also wanted to inform everyone that I have set up a Skype account. Skype is an internet phone service that is free if you talk from computer to computer. If you have a Skype account please add me to your list and maybe we can talk some time. My Skype name is rozey1013. I also attached a phone number to my Skype account so that people without the computer program can call me for a lot cheaper than normal international rates. If you like in the (616) area code the call will be free for you. If you call me it is free for me and if I call you it only costs me 2 cents per minute. If I am not online I do have a voicemail that you can leave messages on. That number is (616) 827-7440. I hope to hear from many of you!
I also wanted to inform everyone that I have set up a Skype account. Skype is an internet phone service that is free if you talk from computer to computer. If you have a Skype account please add me to your list and maybe we can talk some time. My Skype name is rozey1013. I also attached a phone number to my Skype account so that people without the computer program can call me for a lot cheaper than normal international rates. If you like in the (616) area code the call will be free for you. If you call me it is free for me and if I call you it only costs me 2 cents per minute. If I am not online I do have a voicemail that you can leave messages on. That number is (616) 827-7440. I hope to hear from many of you!
Monday, January 14, 2008
Comments
I figured out how the "comments" feature works. You can comment without logging in by clicking on "Comments" underneath each post. Then you type in what you want to say in the text box. Below the text box there is a section that says "Choose an Identity". To comment without signing in you must pick "Anonymous". If you want me to know who left the comment just type your name in the text box with the rest of your message. I hope this clears up any confusion.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
New Itinerary
I just received my new itinerary from AIM. I leave Grand Rapids on Wednesday, January 16 at 2:25pm. I fly to Chicago then to London and then arrive in Nairobi late Thursday night. My return date has also been extended, so I return to Pearl River, NY for debriefing April 1st. What an answer to prayer! It is so nice to have plans again.
Please continue praying for Jennifer Weeks (Uganda for a year) as neither of her bags arrived in Uganda with her.
Also, thank the Lord that the other people scheduled for Kenya have been able to work their trips out and will be going. One couple at the same time as me (in fact, we have the same flight out of GR and then the same flight out of London) and the other couple will be leaving in February.
Thank you for all of your prayers.
In Christ,
~Nathan
P.S. I have changed the settings on the blog posts so now anyone can comment just by clicking on "Comments" underneath each post. I would love to hear from you! E-Mail: rozey1013@yahoo.com
Please continue praying for Jennifer Weeks (Uganda for a year) as neither of her bags arrived in Uganda with her.
Also, thank the Lord that the other people scheduled for Kenya have been able to work their trips out and will be going. One couple at the same time as me (in fact, we have the same flight out of GR and then the same flight out of London) and the other couple will be leaving in February.
Thank you for all of your prayers.
In Christ,
~Nathan
P.S. I have changed the settings on the blog posts so now anyone can comment just by clicking on "Comments" underneath each post. I would love to hear from you! E-Mail: rozey1013@yahoo.com
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Encouraging Verses
These are just a few of the verses and passages that we looked at during the orientation. I thought I would share them with you. I hope they encourage you and refresh you like they did me.
Isaiah 53:1-5
Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Acts 20:22-24
And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.
John 10:14-18, 13:15-17
I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.
I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Matthew 16:24-25
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
2 Timothy 1:6-7
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
Matthew 10:26-31
So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Romans 8:31-39
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Isaiah 53:1-5
Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Acts 20:22-24
And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.
John 10:14-18, 13:15-17
I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.
I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Matthew 16:24-25
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
2 Timothy 1:6-7
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
Matthew 10:26-31
So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Romans 8:31-39
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Orientation and Most Recent News
The orientation in Pearl River, NY was amazing! I was able to meet everyone that I had been e-mailing with for so long and I was able to meet several other young people eager to go and do God's work in Africa. It was an awesome time to relax and reflect on how God brought us to this point and to refocus ourselves on what he has ahead of us.
The prayer support that was shown at the AIM office was amazing! The staff at AIM has been praying for us and for our trip since the very beginning of the process. To see this kind of dedication was awesome. Every member of the staff has been and continues to be prayer warriors on my behalf! What a blessing!
I would ask for your prayers for the other people I met who are on their way to the field:
The prayer support that was shown at the AIM office was amazing! The staff at AIM has been praying for us and for our trip since the very beginning of the process. To see this kind of dedication was awesome. Every member of the staff has been and continues to be prayer warriors on my behalf! What a blessing!
I would ask for your prayers for the other people I met who are on their way to the field:
- Jake Muscat (Uganda for 6 months)
- Geoff Manton (Tanzania for 7 months)
- Natalie Kwong (South Africa for 8 months)
- Jennifer Weeks (Uganda for 1 year)
I would also like to ask for your prayers for the other people who were supposed to head to Kenya. They are all students and need to determine if it is even worth going if their trip is going to be significantly shortened.
- Ryan & Karen Huizinga (AIM Air, Nairobi)
- Andrew & Sandy Mclaughlin (Kijabe Hospital)
Finally, this is the latest news on the situation in Kenya and specifically in Nairobi. As of yesterday the AIM missionaries in Nairobi have said that the political situation has cooled down significantly. Normal traffic has returned to the streets and shops have reopened. People have begun to go about their daily business again. The protesters are being all but ignored by everyone. However, to be on the safe side, AIM's crisis committee in Nairobi declared that no new missionaries or short-termers should arrive in Kenya before January 17. That means the earliest I could leave Grand Rapids in January 15. I am waiting on AIM's travel department to work everything out and I will let everyone know further details as soon as I know them. Thank you all so much for your prayers and don't stop now! Kenya needs our prayer! Times like these provide great opportunities for the church. Kenya in hurting now and needs a Savior!
God Bless you all! In Christ,
~Nathan
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