So... what am I doing?

Family Impact Africa is run by Lynne, one of my housemates and the girl I made contact with when I was here last January. She oversees Family Impact’s 10 member countries, helping them function well as individual organisations and helping them deliver programs.  I’ve been helping her with preparing content for the launch of the new website, which happened last week (http://familyimpact.org) and with posting things on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/FamilyImpact). I am also looking at how they can monitor and evaluate one of the marriage courses run by Family Impact across a number of countries.  I’ll work with staff from Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa on this. The other key thing I’m doing, which I’m very excited about, is helping Lynne prepare for her trip to Australia in March. She will be speaking at each of the launch events for TEAR Australia’s new education campaign on women and poverty (http://www.tear.org.au/news/tears-fortomorrow-campaign-launch-march-2014).  Family Impa…

USA today

As I write from the other side of the globe I am reminded that we are all on a journey. Many times that journey takes us to the places that God is leading us, but we don't want to go.  I could never have gone to the places God has taken me over the last 10 years (and continued to move forward) without the sustaining encouragement and unconditional love of my church family.  Each day God is calling me to serve Him with Christlike-character - with self denial.  This goes against all my self-preservation instincts.  Serving at One however, allows me to see God's story unfolding in the lives of others, and in turn see how God's story is revealed in my life.  To be part of God's story together is a gift.  I am fully convinced that the story of One is far from over.  We have many more God-stories that will continue to unfold and many more people to come to know Christ's unconditional love.  I am no Hulk, but I don't need to be because I know that the l…

The consumption assumption is following us!

God must realise that we are missing a teaching series at church back home on money, because the church we happened to visit yesterday morning was just starting a teaching series on giving!! And there we were thinking that a trip to Africa would get us off the hook when it came to be challenged about our finances! I found it a great challenge and encouragement, so thought’d I’d share a bit about it. The pastor spoke from Exodus 35 and 36, where the Israelites are called to bring an offering for the furnishing of the tabernacle. Check out Exodus 36:6-7… Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work. The people brought so much that they had to be restrained from giving any more! Can you imagine that? Can you imagine a m…

Evan and Victoria, meet Church and Market

Today we had 2 great new experiences of African culture: church and the market. This morning was our first taste of church in Kenya. I’m not so great with walking in to unknown situations so I scouted out around the guest house to find someone else who was going to the same church service that we were. I found 3 new friends who were happy to have some tagalongs! As it turned out, we had nothing to be nervous about at all. I feel like we got off lightly as it was a pretty easy introduction for us as the whole service (bar one song) was in English. I felt quite at home singing a mixture of choruses from the 70′s and old hymns. I knew pretty much every song they sang (except for the one in Swahili!). However, I think it was all a little more foreign for Victoria (except for Matt Redman’s Blessed Be Your Name)! The sermon was great (And was probably about an hour long – so people should quit complaining when I take 45 minutes!). And quite bizarrely it would ha…

Milk was a bad choice and other lessons from day one

After a one night stop over in Mauritius, we touched down in Kenya at 12.40pm local time today. Here’s some of what we’ve learnt so far: When drinking coffee on an aeroplane, don’t use the creamer powder. The luxurious, indulgent joy of dairy was never meant to be reduced to a powder. (Victoria learned this lesson the hard way.) When driving in Kenya, if there is not a lane, but there is almost room for a lane, then there is a lane. I’m so glad that we were in the capable hands of our guest house driver. If it were up to my timid, courteous, grandpa-like driving, I think we would still be in the traffic jam now (some 8 hours later). We are noobs. We sat down to dinner at the guest house that we are staying at and met two other ladies who are staying here. One is here on holiday after 9 years of church planting in Tanzania and the other is headed for a stint back at home after 10 years in Sudan! I think it was simultaneously overwhelming and comforting to me…