Tuesday, November 9, 2010

We're all ready to go!

We have finally arrived at the point where there is not much more we can do other than pack our personal baggage before the mission trip and pray for God’s will to be done. The many months of planning, ordering and purchasing supplies, countless emails and phone calls are coming to a much appreciated end.

On Sunday, the Redeemer team was commissioned at all three worship services. Pastor Kevin told the congregation about the love of Christ that is shown through both the vision and dental clinics and stressed that while these health services and human care ministry that we provide to the people of Kenya are wonderful and worthy of doing in themselves, they are actually a means to an end. Our primary purpose is to fulfill the Great Commission, as given by Jesus to the disciples in Matthew 28:18-20 which reads:

Mt 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Mt 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Mt 28:20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

As long as we never take our eye off of this overarching purpose, our efforts will be a success, even if only one person comes to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior during our clinics.

I have mixed emotions about our travel.  It is usually a 30-35 hour from start to finish affair, beginning with a drive down to Houston from Austin early Thursday morning, flying to London around 4pm after gathering all of the missionaries together at Bush International airport and assigning each of them two footlockers of vision or dental equipment for their checked luggage.  Because we do this to save on shipping the equipment, each of us will need to live out of a carryon and the small personal item we can take on board for the next 11 days.  You learn to travel light!  We will have a 4 or 5 hour layover in London before flying on to Nairobi.  We'll get to our lodgings around midnight and be in bed by 1am if past experience is a good guide.  While this is not trivial travel, I look forward to the variety of people I'll get to meet and share with.  On one trip back from Kenya, I got to talk to a Kenyan U.N. delegate who was on his way to New York on U.N. business for about half an hour.  He turned out to also be a Christian and we wished each other well, after sweltering while waiting for our plane to start boarding.  Our seats on the planes are always quite scattered, intentionally, so we can interact with other passengers who are not part of the mission team.  Who knows how much evangelism is done just through our travels and chance encounters?  I'm not much of a believer in accidents anymore, so I look at it as showing Christ's love to whomever God has managed to place in my path.  Most people seem genuinely interested in our mission and will ask all kinds of questions, giving us the opportunity to explain what motivates us. 

Please keep our safe travels in your prayers and that things go smoothly as we go through various security checkpoints along the way.  With the heightened security after recent events involving Yemen, it may be a bit more of a hassle herding our large group with all of our supplies through the process at each airport.

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