Gandys in Africa

More to share

2010-09-08T10:02:00.000+03:00

African Sunrise

The time is flying, but there has been so much happen. We are seeing God move in areas and sensing His leading in others. We are so thankful for God's leadership as we serve here! We are seeing Him rise in areas, and looking forward to the full light of day. Here are some quick updates on what's going on here in Nairobi!

Somali ladies in a clean area of Eastleigh

Jim has been helping cover a story here in a part of Nairobi called Eastleigh. It is known as a place where Somali refugees congregate. They are still compiling and working on the project, but last week was a daily draining experience for their team being on the ground there. It is such a heartbreaking issue - thousands roaming trash laden streets in clothing showing their beliefs in their god. Ramadan is in full swing, fasting and prayers during the day are being participated in, and they have no idea that their future is much more dark than their present. They passed one large group watching two arguing. It turned out that one was posing as a Christian - and they were making fun of him and attacking his beliefs. The crowd was there watching - and learning. Mocking Christ . . . one day, scriptures promise, every knee will bow. May it be sooner for some of these that have been blinded by these teachings!

Leslie

Leslie, a friend from TN, recently graduated from Union University. She has been involved in missions and wanted to come and spend some time as she explores what God has for her future. We had a wonderful time showing her some of our work, letting her see how a crazy family like ours really lives here, and just sharing together. It is so exciting seeing people put their lives at the Lord's feet and asking for His leadership.

Hilary & Karlie loving the cheap Nairobi flowers!

We also have two others here working with the media team with Hands On for 4 months. Hilary and Karlie are doing a great job. It keeps us on our toes and feeling younger when we hang out with these young people. It is so encouraging seeing them making choices to serve the Lord right where they are in their lives. It is such a blessing! (Karlie took many of these pictures that I snatched from her Facebook page. I must give credit when due!)

We have made some changes in our focus with the street kids ministry. We will now be working with our church here - Ridgeways. We will be focusing on gathering more often than in the mornings - to create more relationships - and praying for many more to find ways to leave the streets. Pray with us that the Lord will bless us with continued discernment as we move forward in these areas.

Slum housing

Mji wa Huruma is the name of a slum that many of you may have heard of before if you have been following our ministry. We have begun our work there again. Yesterday we met with a group of ladies - from young 20s to 40s. Out of the group of 10 to 12 - there were over 40 children that they were responsible for. Many of them have turned to prostitution to just be able to feed their children a simple meal. This would be a meal that would be less than many of you feed your pets. They are asking God for help to improve their situation. Will you pray with us to have discernment to know how to help them to "learn to fish" for their family? It is a very hardened and dark area where there is open witchcraft, drunkenness and drug use (they make their own alcoholic beverages), and just very deep poverty. There are no school fees, uniforms for school or money for any of that. The 7 to 12 dollars for their rent per month in the slum and money for those basic meals are made by exposing them - as moms - to HIV and all the rest. God promises to provide the basic necessities for His children - and many of these ladies are claiming to be believers. What would I do - if my kids were having nothing to eat - to keep a basic piece of scrap metal between them and the rain? I do not know. I am asking for God to provide a way for them.

The girls have started back to school, and are doing well. I am so amazed that I no longer have anyone in Elementary school!

Jim and I are doing well also - but very busy. I am still working on my degree in Biblical Counseling from Liberty University. It has been a challenge working everything in at times. My promise to myself is that I will not neglect God's work here or my family. That has made for late nights and early mornings as I finish work, but am very thankful for each week that is behind me. God has given me the energy and clarity to continue this far!

Thank you guys for praying, for the encouraging notes that have come, and for supporting us in the work God has called us to here! He works through the prayers of His people - so thanks for joining hands with us here! We are but dirt - and it is such a blessing to be "dressed up" in Him and be used to glorify Him in this place. So often I feel "who am I to do this thing???" It is only by His help and leadership.

Be blessed!

We are but dirt - but He is amazing

2010-08-04T16:56:00.000+03:00

Well, this week we have slept little, sat among kids that have not bathed in a long time that were high on drugs, been ridiculed and watched drug deals go down while we told Bible stories, watched a gang pass with their gun out, and walked through slums and open sewage.

We have seen God move, seen conviction and encouragement, seen people come to know Christ as their personal savior, walked beside Kenyans serving the Lord, learned, taught, prayed, wept. We are thankful, grateful, humbled, and seeking the next step forward. We see changes needed in our ministries, see issues that need to be addressed in careful ways, areas we are praying over - asking God to move and work.

Thank you for praying with us. God has been faithful to move, to protect, to provide, to save, to sustain. We are but dirt, but He is amazing.

Pray with us this next week as:

1. The girls test to re-enter school and then begin on Thursday (I think). They are all a bit anxious to make friends and get back into the swing. Natalie will be in 10th – but her first year in HS there. Gillian will be in 8th, and Lydia will be in her first year of MS – in 6th.

2. Pray for peace in Kenya as they vote today on a new constitution. They plan on telling the results within 24-48 hours. Pray that the results will be an accurate view of the people’s wishes and that there would be no violence. After the last election violence - the stores were out of milk, meat, eggs, bread and such. People are waiting to see what will happen.

3. Pray for our friend Leslie that will be traveling the middle of next week from TN to spend 3 weeks with us exploring her call into missions.

4. Pray for Jim and I as we move forward in some changes in ministry. We are in desperate need of discernment and courage.

5. For George as he has the metal removed from his toe on Friday.

6. Pray for Linda as she finishes up the next 2 ½ weeks of this term of school. With the team here, she is in catch-up mode.

Thank you for joining us in prayer.

Pray for Anton

2010-07-30T21:02:00.001+03:00

We have had a wonderful and very busy week (as I yawn just now!) It is almost 9PM and EVERYONE in the family is in bed . . . except me. That is almost a record. I am so there after I post this!

A team from Kansas and Tennessee has helped us for the last three days with the street kids and also in an orphanage. Tomorrow is a down day for them to see some of God's creation before they spend the next couple days working in Kibera slum and Kitengela.

God answered our prayers to call out another boy this week. Just this morning as somewhere around 75 sat and listened to the Bible story - Anton HEARD the story - the story of the parodical son. Anton came forward - not on any drugs or alcohol, and asked to please go home. His eyes were bright and had a twinkle that makes me hopeful. We will be seeing him on Wednesday. From there we will move in that direction. The delay is a sort of test to check to see if he is indeed serious.

I plan on staying in PJ pants tomorrow and studying. I am asking for a clear mind and rest tomorrow. It has been wonderful, but our family is very tired.

I will update you on Anton. Thanks for praying with us and asking God to pull another one from the fire.

Our God is Amazing

2010-07-24T21:23:00.000+03:00

Today, we witnessed God do mighty things - things that amaze me . . . humble me. Today, we found out the truth about George. Today we saw a prodigal son go home to parents that love him. Today, God answered our prayers.

George had laced lies with truth. Yesterday, we began to press for truth as we saw things steadily not adding up. We knew that George would have to make choices to tell the truth or turn back to the street. This actually put our family in some danger as he mentally was being torn with the decisions of making those final decisions. While George is a good boy, he lived with criminals of all types. Putting stress and pressure on him while he was staying at our house was a risk.

As you prayed, we had 3 Kenyan girls spend the night spontaneously. That actually gave me extra peace, as they all slept with the girls on their bunk beds and trundles. Even this morning, I didn't know if he would be here, if there would be things missing, etc. He was here, face swollen from crying through the night, evidence of God breaking through his heart.

Today, we found that George was not an orphan, but a prodigal son. His parents were searching for him in the streets, in hospitals, in mortuaries. They had missed work looking for him, gotten behind on bills, been unable to eat, they had become ill. They were praying and fasting with their church, asking God to bring their first born son home.

Last night Mama George had a dream of 3 people coming - bringing George home. In the dream, they knocked but before they entered, George turned and ran. At this point, she immediately woke up and knew God was telling her to pray. She knew that George was at a point of coming home and was struggling.

She had been praying all day when we came to her home - the 3 of us with George - just like her dream. What was different, however, was that George did not run. God answered her prayers.

We stayed about an hour and visited and talked through things. George became a believer about 2 weeks ago - since we brought him home. He now has a new heart, a new way of seeing things, a new start, a second chance.

We will be seeing the family on Friday when we meet them at the hospital to get the wire taken from George's toe. Pray with us this week that the whole family can work through the many hurts. Pray that George has the courage to do the right thing and follow what God would have him do in the next weeks. Pray for Mama and Baba George to have wisdom and discernment as they raise him and his younger brother named Emanuel.

Jim and I both feel like over-cooked spaghetti noodles. We feel relieved and thankful, amazed and stunned, deceived and hurt . . . we have a loss and a gain. Seeing God work through things in such a detailed manner, seeing Him give Mama George the dream so that she knew to pray, seeing God change a boys heart in front of our eyes - these are miraculous things.

Eunice and I were talking tonight - about how emotionally draining the street kids ministry is. The Bible says that the enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy. Once the kids are on the street, the enemy has stolen, and is destroying and killing. Reaching in and being used to pull one out - it is a very emotionally draining thing. We had to love him deeply - for him to feel the Love of Christ. To love him and be lied to and decieved hurts. To be on the edge of danger is hard. In the end, seeing him at home, as a new believer, it is worth it, but it still stings.

Pray with us for discernment, strength and safety as we enter this next week. We will be going to the street Tuesday - Friday with a team. Ask that God would guide us to others that He is working in their heart, and show us how to help them. Pray for our safety as we all go into these areas. One life restored at a time - for His glory!

Thanks for praying and being a part of this ministry God has given.

Pray for us over the next 24 hours

2010-07-23T15:24:00.000+03:00

Hey guys -

I can't give much detail right now - but will you please pray with us over this weekend - especially over the next 24 hours - for safety and discernment for our family and helpers. Pray for God's complete protection, and for Him to be glorified through the events over the weekend. Will update and give more information as we can

Thank you.

Linda

Pray for George tonight

2010-07-13T23:25:00.000+03:00

Hey guys -

It is 11:30 Tuesday night here. George is very lonesome. He called me crying wanting us to come and get him. We are going there tomorrow at noon to talk. That will be 2am in the morning central time. Will you pray with us that he sees that he needs to stay? Him coming back to our home would not be a good long term solution. He has been rejected and abandoned already, so it is a fine line we are having to go on. Also pray for my heart to not collapse in the process.

Thanks so much!

Linda

George's tears will soon be Joy, because our God is Faithful.

2010-07-11T14:35:00.001+03:00

Last night, I found George crying. Weeping. I went to him - a bit unsure how to comfort him in a culturally appropriate manner. He is 15, a boy that is almost a man. I sat next to him on the bed and told him to come. Being a mamma the way I know is all I know! He curled up in my lap and wept on my chest. 45 min of me holding him - unable to say anything except that I was so sorry. He missed his mom that died 3 years ago.

Jim had spent quite a bit of time with him yesterday talking about his family, about God. It was good, but it also brought things to the surface. He missed his mom.

His mom had loved him. She was a dentist that took him to church and prayed with him every night. She was not sick - but one day - she died in his home. His life changed suddenly.

Today, we wept - my whole family - and George - together. Even now I hurt. George wants to stay with us - but we think that he will be able to heal better with a Kenyan family. There is a lady named Mamma Mariam at our church that he is going to live with. She is a grandmother with grandchildren George's age. She is a loving lady who fears God. Her heart is with mine with George. We are going to work with her to find a way for George to re-enter school. He wants to be a Dr . . . like his mother was. He has been studying at our house, getting ready.

Jim just left to take him. He doesn't want to go, but has agreed to try it one week. Pray with me that this one week will be one of peace, love and unity there. Pray that George feels love there and not rejection from us for sending him there. Pray for George. Pray for Mamma Mariam to have discernment to be able to be used by God to help him heal. We have asked him to try - for just one week. Pray for us. When God puts love in your heart - it is a deep love. When they hurt - we hurt. We are hurting.

As I have said many times, Is. 61:1-3 is my life verse. In George I have witnessed one side of much of that passage - and I know that the other side is in his future. It is God's will for him to be fully restored. The loss of a mother, the rejection of an aunt that sent him to the street, all of the unmentionable things that he has witnessed living there for two years. Only God can restore him. Pray with me that George will be a living testimony of the truth of the verse. (I have posted the verse again below.)

Today in church - the music in the praise time called on me to trust God with George. I am trusting - by sending him - I am trusting. Pray with me for George to become what vs 3 below says - an oak of righteousness, a planting of the Lord, to display God's splendor.

In Him

Linda

Isaiah 61:1-3
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
       because the LORD has anointed me
       to preach good news to the poor.
       He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
       to proclaim freedom for the captives
       and release from darkness for the prisoners, ^[a]

to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
       to bestow on them a crown of beauty
       instead of ashes,
       the oil of gladness
       instead of mourning,
       and a garment of praise
       instead of a spirit of despair.
       They will be called oaks of righteousness,
       a planting of the LORD
       for the display of his splendor.

Surgery went well

2010-07-06T23:13:00.000+03:00

Thanks for praying! George's surgery went great. That is him in the last post, by the way. I discovered that he is actually 15 and he shares a birthday with our oldest daughter Natalie! How cool is that!

George is with Jeff for one more night. He will be with us after that - until we find him a home. He is such a sweet boy. Today, we had him in our recliner so he could easily keep his leg elevated. We had checked him out some books to be refreshing his studies so that he can sit for a re-entry exam for school.

I don't understand the psychology of it, but about this time, it becomes hard for someone that has been on the streets to be still. Sometimes, they end
up running away. Every time I miss him, my heart sinks wondering if he has run. He desires to never
go there again, to be able to go to school and such, but he is also dealing with a ton of changes. While we live extravagantly in comparison, when he hasn't even used a toilet in years - there are a lot of things that he is having to learn and be corrected for. This could make him feel claustrophobic. Correcting has to be done - but with great care. That is compounded by him not being able to get around because of his foot. We are seeing some signs of him being stir crazy.

Specific requests
For George: Foot to heal, to have a peace in his heart, and to find him a home.
-For him to be receptive to the Truth as it is being shared with him, and that he will come to a saving knowledge of Christ if he has not done so already.
-For us to protect him and our girls in the time between tomorrow and when we find him a home.
-Pray for stamina and wellness for our family and for the other 4 families on our compound.
-Continue to pray for Chris and his family. Chris will be kept in the hospital until Thursday. They have 5 great kids, and the second started running fever today. Continue to pray for all of them.
-Jeff is also not improving much. His term ends in 3 weeks, and he has a ton of things he is longing to do before then. These sick days are not on that schedule!
-Pray for our family as we continue to settle in, and as we adjust to things taking much longer to accomplish.

Thanks so much for praying!

In Him -

Linda

George going for surgery now.

2010-07-05T13:46:00.003+03:00

George will not lose his toes! We are on the way now for a great orthopedic guy to fix him up. We are very grateful. Pray for him as he will be in the procedure at 5pm our time - which is 10am Memphis time. Will cost more - but he will have his toes! We are so thankful. Will send more later!

Pray for wellness and for George

2010-07-05T01:35:00.001+03:00

Hey! It is 1:20am, but I had to send out a couple of SOS prayer request!

1........We have had many guests this past week, which we have ABSOLUTELY loved. One family from near the coast with 5 children that we love and wish lived on our compound has been here this past week. Their 3 year old has been ill, now their father, Chris, has been admitted to the hospital. Our family is getting to become a second home for them. Pray for this family to be well and for the Lord to refresh them. They work in a hard rural area that is dry and dark. They need a breeze from the Lord!

2......Sicknesses are hitting the compound. Out of 15 people on our compound right now, 6 have been dealing with things - different things. Please pray for a couple of mild things going on with our girls, and some food poisoning going on with our adopted journeyman Jeff. He left here tonight with high fever, chills, and other unmentionables - just miserable.

3....... Pray for George. He is a 16 year old boy that we found on the street on Saturday morning. His mother died a while ago, leaving him with an aunt. She decided in the middle of his 7th grade of school that she could no longer care for him - and turned him out onto the street, where he has lived for the last 2 years. George is not on drugs like many of the other kids - even though when we found him, he was suffering from a 3 week old foot injury from a van running over it. We took him to the hospital on Saturday. We take him to an orthopedic Dr tomorrow morning. It is expected that he will need to have at least his pinky toe - and possibly the next one - amputated. Pray with us for the Dr, for healing, and for us to find a place for him to live. He is staying with Jeff (mentioned above) this weekend. With him being older, we are not sure our house would be best with us having girls. He asked Jeff if he could stay with him forever, which broke his heart. He slept in a bed - for the first time in 2 years! He hardly eats - because he isn't used to having meals. He is amazed by the simplest things. What he must think of our extravagance. Hard stuff. Pray I find a perfect home for him.

I will write and update on George and the sicknesses tomorrow - and hope to send a picture of him. Thanks for praying and taking part of our ministry here.

Linda

Street Kids tomorrow!

2010-07-02T21:09:00.001+03:00

We feel at home, the house is unpacked, and we are on Kenya time (Kenya is 8 hours ahead of Memphis, TN). We are working to get everything back on schedule. The girls have reconnected with friends, as have Jim and I. We have had company most days, and we have loved that. We are so thankful to be here, but most importantly, we are here and are refreshed. God really did help us to be ready for this next term.

So – now that we are a bit settled, it is time to get back into ministry. That starts tomorrow! We are excited to get to go back to see the street kids! We are really praying for discernment on how to proceed with this ministry. Just before we went stateside, I was able to attend a meeting with others with our mission that serve in similar ministries all over sub-Saharan Africa. We shared what had worked and what had not. This allowed me hear ideas that I may have never considered. With this fresh start, now may be the time to implement some of these ideas.

Specific prayers:

1) Safety as we go downtown.

2) Discernment for how to proceed

3) God to prepare hearts to hear about God’s love for them

4) For encouragement for Eunice, Fred and Boniface

5) For God to use the team that is here right now that will be working with us this weekend.

6) For God to work in the hearts of the team.

And a couple of personal requests:

7) Linda is doing school online. This week has been difficult to find time to get studies done. Pray for the “rhythm” to be found to be able to work it in and not interfere with family and ministry.

8) Lydia is working through some extra math to help her to be ready for 6th grade. Pray for her mind to quickly absorb the information.

9) Pray for us to stay healthy. LOTS of dust and such and changes in temps, food and water.

There are now 3 groups of street kids that are being worked with. The original boys group, the group of girls, and a new group has formed since I have been gone. We call them the Riverside boys. Eunice started working with them while I was gone. I will meet them for the first time tomorrow. I am looking forward to that. This link below will take you to a set of stories that were written about this group – and it may help you know better how to pray. There are 2 stories, Oscar’s Story and Eunice & the Nairobi Street Boys. There are also some pictures. Eunice is a dear friend – actually on her way here as I write to spend the night.

Thank you for standing with us as we again are so blessed to be ambassadors for Christ in Kenya. It is a great privilege. We will update you next week – or before!

http://www.africastories.org/nairobi-street-kids/oscars-story/

God Answered Our Prayers!

2010-06-21T21:05:00.003+03:00

1- Pray for emotional grace for all of us in our goodbyes. The tears were few! We were loved on as we left and will miss family, but God was so good! We were so thankful to be able to see God's grace in action.

2- Pray that anything I have forgotten to pack or purchase will come to mind - and that we would be free from concern that we are forgetting anything. Concern was gone and we have not noticed anything we have forgotten.

3- Pray for uneventful flights as we fly from Memphis to Chicago to London to Nairobi. All flights were completely uneventful - except for the British celebrities on our flight that were being recorded as they walked around the plane collecting money for an organization.

4- We have 3.2 hours in London. That is plenty. Pray for no delays getting there -as it has taken 2.5 hours the last couple of times we have flown through there to clear security and get to the next gate. We were a bit early, they had finished terminal 5, streamlined security, and we were able to get through in plenty of time to have a cup of coffee and a sandwich before the plane!

5- Pray for no lost luggage or theft and no troubles as we get through customs in Kenya with all of our luggage. We will be going through there at about 1:30 to 2:30 Memphis time on Sunday afternoon. All luggage arrived, we had no trouble with our carry-on luggage which was pushing the limits of what was allowed, we were asked about 5 or 6 questions by the customs agent before he sent us on our way without cracking one zipper. Everything is here from what we can tell! There were even two times where we had to go up a ton of steps to get to the plane or terminal. The girls were unable to carry all of theirs - giving Jim and I a 3rd 40lb bag each to get up. Jim - being the manly man that he is - did it with ease. I on the other hand went forward not knowing how in the world I was going to be able to do it. BOTH times - I would get up 2 to 4 steps and a man would offer to carry the extra up for me. BOTH TIMES!

6- Pray that we get over jet-lag quickly and are able to quickly unpack and set up our house over the next week. We were able to get all our boxes and furniture moved from the storage area and into the correct room in our house today, get my phone reactivated, go the bank, grocery, and market, and cook dinner with Mamma Kennedy! MUCH more done than we had hoped! Praying now for us to shift into Kenya time completely in the next day or so.

7- Pray that we are able to quickly get back into the swing of driving - Kenyan style. :-) I drove today and had no trouble! They are doing a ton road work which requires you to go to places different ways, but all went perfectly. It came back quickly!

8- HUGE: Please ask God to give each of my girls a special friend that is walking with God. They have homeschooled for a year and traveled a ton. They are in need of a good friend. Gillian is blessed to have her friend waiting on her, but Natalie and Lydia need friends to have in school. All three girls have a play day set up for tomorrow! Please continue to pray over this area with us.

9- Pray with us for God's leadership in moving forward with our ministries after being away a year. We are asking for discernment in some changes, additions and such. We are still in need of prayer in this area. We will be moving into this area after this week of unpacking.

Tomorrow we will be getting our kitchen and bedrooms set up so that we can actually spend tomorrow night in our house for the first time in 13 months! We have a stalk of bananas almost ready, avocados on the tree that are almost ready, and have eaten fresh pineapple tonight that would make Dole proud.

We got the dogs last night and they were more excited than I tell you. They were beside themselves - as were we. They slept with the girls last night - and even now they are each curled up with one of the girls on the couch sleeping while the girls are watching I Love Lucy episodes.

We are tired, for sure, but are praying for a full nights sleep tonight. We are praying to be on Kenyan time in the next day or so, in our house with all boxes gone!

As you pray and thank God for answering - would you pray for 2 other families that we know that are heading out for their second term as well? We went through training with them - and they are heading into areas that may not be as welcoming as ours has been.

We will update you with some pictures of our home set up this week. Thanks for your continued prayers over these other areas!

Linda

2 MORE SLEEPS!

2010-06-17T17:54:00.004+03:00

Packing is . . . . coming along. :-) My parents arrive tonight to spend the last full day with us tomorrow - along with Jim's parents. We are thankful!

With the long journey ahead of us - a statement that one of our pastors here made in Sunday evening's sermon is anticipated multiple times from our kids. "Are we there yet?" He brought it around as a question for us - "are we there yet" - where we want to be in our walk with God. I had to answer no - especially with my tendencies to lean toward the Martha side as times get crazy like they are right now. I took extra time in my quiet time yesterday, and finished wondering why I try to zip through so often when it is so energizing when I take the needed time. You have our permission - and even encouragement - to question us as we go through our term regarding our walk with God. Accountability is a needed thing.

Along with this:

Wanted to give you some specific prayer requests for the next week.

1- Pray for emotional grace for all of us in our goodbyes.

2- Pray that anything I have forgotten to pack or purchase will come to mind - and that we would be free from concern that we are forgetting anything.

3- Pray for uneventful flights as we fly from Memphis to Chicago to London to Nairobi.

4- We have 3.2 hours in London. That is plenty. Pray for no delays getting there -as it has taken 2.5 hours the last couple of times we have flown through there to clear security and get to the next gate.

5- Pray for no lost luggage or theft and no troubles as we get through customs in Kenya with all of our luggage. We will be going through there at about 1:30 to 2:30 Memphis time on Sunday afternoon.

6- Pray that we get over jet-lag quickly and are able to quickly unpack and set up our house over the next week.

7- Pray that we are able to quickly get back into the swing of driving - Kenyan style. :-)

8- HUGE: Please ask God to give each of my girls a special friend that is walking with God. They have homeschooled for a year and traveled a ton. They are in need of a good friend. Gillian is blessed to have her friend waiting on her, but Natalie and Lydia need friends to have in school.

9- Pray with us for God's leadership in moving forward with our ministries after being away a year. We are asking for discernment in some changes, additions and such.

Thank you all so much! We will not have phone or internet access for a bit, but will update as soon as we can!

Linda

2010-06-14T17:24:00.003+03:00

After working through medical clearance, we are finally on the official countdown to leave. We will depart from Memphis, TN on Saturday the 19th for Kenya!

The last month has been an interesting time of stretching. After going to have my glasses prescription updated, I was sent on a whirlwind of medical tests to rule out some pretty hard sounding things. When it was all settled, I was put on medicine for reflux and an over-the-counter eye drop. I can't tell you how thankful we were.

As we are now cleared to go back to the place where God has called us to serve and Glorify Him, I am looking back over things I have been shown in the past. One is Is. 61:1-3. Years before details worked out for us to be in Kenya, I was working through this call on my life. Jim was not called yet, but God had made it very clear to me that I was set apart for His service. As I prayed through that, I read these verses in Is. one day in my quiet time. They became alive, and it became clear that all I would do serving the Lord would fall within these guidelines.

Yesterday, as I sat in our home church, I was thinking about the medical scare and how it had resolved. I was able to sing and praise the Lord without discomfort in my throat for the first time in a long time. I thought about how that acid had prevented my voice from being able to preform that action. It reminded me of how so many Christians have experienced hard things that effect them in such a way that they no longer praise Him with their lives. It felt so good to be able to sing. I then thought of the vision issues I had been experiencing. I had been seeing double for about two years - blurring my vision. It turned out that the whole thing was caused by dry eyes - which made my eyes see two images. My mind also though of these same Christians that had been hurt and unable to praise the Lord seeing two pictures, one of the worlds view and one of God's view. They are dry in their walk with Him - and they are unable to see anything clearly.

We are leaving for Kenya, and my prayer is that we are used to Glorify Him as we share with people that have never heard, people that have heard but have never believed and trusted, and also with people that have been burned and are dry.

Pray with us that we would indeed be living hands and feet used by God to do exactly what Is. 61:1-3 says. Read it. Then read vs 4. God showed me that verse years later - as the reward.

May we all be found guilty of doing these things - for His glory - until He returns!

¹The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
Because the LORD has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
²To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
³To grant those who mourn in Zion,
Giving them a garland instead of ashes,
The oil of gladness instead of mourning,
The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting
So they will be called oaks of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.
⁴Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins,
They will raise up the former devastations;
And they will repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.

2010-05-26T18:44:00.003+03:00

Greetings everyone! We are preparing for their return to Kenya! We are hoping to return within the month, so more updates will be coming. We appreciate your prayers over the next month as we finalize buying, packing, goodbyes, and medical clearance. We will be mailing out new prayer cards and a newsletter within the next couple of weeks. If we do not have your email address or mailing address, and you would like to be sent our updates, let us know by email. 5gandys@pobox.com

Thanks so much!

In Him -

Linda

The Lord sees Vanessa

2008-12-19T23:06:00.009+03:00

Parking in the dirt area near where the stage is being assembled for the last crusade of the week, children begin to run to our van to greet us. They knew the van, and most have left their handprints to decorate the once white color. The speakers are already blaring praise music in Kikuyu, the mother tongue of most of the residents of Mji wa Huruma slum.

The children love to feel and pinch the white skin that is not covered on both of my arms. Especially of interest is the extra skin at the elbows and veins that may show through the skin. Each child holds a finger, allowing at least 10 children to each feel that they are getting special attention from the visitors to the village.
They hang and climb, pinch and twist, pull hairs and feel of my longer hair. They are mesmerized by the “wazungu” (white people) that have come.

With this being the 7th day of crusades, being of such interest to the children is now expected. As I walked into the area, one child just kept drawing my attention. I just had this overwhelming sense of love for her. She was more quite, and a bit dirtier than most. She just held my finger and walked with me. Nothing was exceptional about her, but I had this strong urge to bring her home. I felt like she was mine – and just could not get away from it. I held her and offered her some of my water. With the other children around – offering it was a risk. She drank it all over the next few moments, showing me another glimpse of her need. I found an English speaking believer from the village to ask if he knew her. This is when I was told her story for the first time. It was repeated to me through the night.

5 year old Vanessa’s mother passed away, leading her father to marry again. 3 months before, the 3 of them moved into the slum. Since then, the lady had left. Vanessa now had only her father, which spent most of his time on drugs and alcohol. Instead of feeding her and caring for her, he beat her and left her neglected. Vanessa was often found sleeping alone on one of the dirt paths in the slum village – where she would have spent the night without even a blanket. Even the children began to come up to me and tell me that this child – their own pier – had no food – and to please help her. Upon questioning further – I was also told that she was the only one like this in the village. While poverty was rampant, this was the only child that was in this situation.

Desiring to know where she lived, I asked to be taken there. As we began to weave down the narrow dirt paths between the metal sheets forming boundaries for homes, Vanessa began to squirm and cry out in fear. She was fearful to go to her home. I was trying to memorize the paths to be able to visit Vanessa when I came back.

The home that was pointed out to me was not even made of tin sheets – but was about an 8 ft by 6 ft area made from bamboo poles that had been split and made into a fence. There was a piece of fabric hung on the inside to give a bit more privacy through the gaps of the bamboo. There was a makeshift door made from scrap wood, and flour sacks sewn together hung over the area to give a small amount of protection from rain. I was told that he was home – and not to knock because he could become violent with me.

I returned and shared the story with a national grandmother from our church. “Will he not let me take her and raise her? She could still be his – but I could offer a place to sleep and food – and get her in school.” The grandmother went to talk to this father. I held Vanessa and could not get Isaiah 61:1-3 out of my mind. I have never seen a better example of the scripture. I knew God was at work. I was just blown away how the Lord had just flooded my heart with love for this one child – the one that needed help – out of all the hundreds of children in the village. It made me just think of the Lord – seeing Vanessa curled up in the dirt without food or shelter – or anyone to love her. God loved her, and made it to where I could not get away from it. I knew then that the overwhelming love that came into my heart was from God. He was saying that Vanessa was His, that He loved her and wanted her.

The next thing I know, the grandmother is walking up to us – followed by a young man of about 25. Vanessa begins to whimper, telling me before the introduction who this young man was. He had agreed to the grandmother’s plan. While the plan was discussed, he was invited to listen to our Sr. pastor as he was preaching. The invitation followed, and this father, who had been in the pit of despair, went forward to receive Christ as his savior with 6 other men from the village.

Our pastor led him in prayer. I watched from a distance, astounded at the Lords plan unfolding in front of my eyes. I approached our pastor after about 10 min of him counseling the father. “Linda, you would not believe the dramatic change I have witnessed in this man. He has prayed to receive Christ as his Lord and savior, and when he finished, there a visual change in him. All I could say was “WOW!”’. I filled him in on the rest of what had happened, and he witnessed how Vanessa was very fearfully aware of her father there. He was even more astounded – at the work of the Lords hand.

In mental awe afterwards, I was just overwhelmed by this Lord we serve. The creator of the universe saw Vanessa. He saw her and her situation. I can’t get away from the Lord being with that sweet child as she curled up alone in the dark on the dirt without food. I also can’t get away from a God that is so big yet sees me, just like He saw her in this slum. Situations arise that sometimes make me question my head knowledge of this God seeing us. Today, however, I was reminded of this deeply comforting detail.

Today, weeks later, Vanissa is living in a nice Kenyan home, her own bed, food to eat, and she is looking forward to starting school after the Christmas break. Her father is a new believer that met with the pastor 3 times just last week. The plans that the Lord has for Vanissa are good.

I know that we are all facing things this Christmas season. I pray that the Lord will give you a moment like He gave me through meeting Vanissa, a moment where He makes it even more real that He sees us through eyes of a love that we can’t comprehend this side of heaven. What a comfort that is as we face challenges.

Thank each of you for praying for us, and for all of you that make it possible for us to be here. It is during this time each year that the Lottie Moon Offering is collected, which pays for our ministry budgets and salaries. Times are harder this year, making us even more thankful for each of you that are sacrificially giving so that we can be here. We feel so blessed to be here to be used to help Vanissas of all ages around Nairobi hear that there is a God that sees them and loves them.

I pray that you have a wonderful time as we celebrate the birth of Jesus this year.

CFS - Cultural Field Study

2008-10-09T23:16:00.004+03:00

CFS is a yearly trip that classes take at the girls’ school. This year, Gillian and Natalie both had their trips at the same time. Each class in middle school had different destinations. I was one of the chaperones for the 8th grade class this year. We traveled to the area around Mt Kenya and camped 2 nights with about 45 kids. We studied about the culture of the people that live in that area, learned some bush survival skills, visited a chimpanzee sanctuary, and worked in the community school doing some painting and laying some concrete. I was the photographer! Much easier than mixing concrete! I did have a nice workout with hiking most of the day at the higher altitude! Wow. Great start to an exercise program!

Natalie was great playing with the kids at the school. I also loved being able to watch Natalie's best friend, Nate, lead in worship time both nights. Being a missionary means you "adopt" other MKs (missionary kids) as nieces and nephews. He is an adopted nephew.

The kids were great. It was neat getting to see them interact with the kids at the school and then talk about it afterwards. We are all so blessed - even you if you are able to get on this and read a blog.

We had a praise time after dinner each night with a Bible study. It was a lot of fun. I will say - that after 4 days without a shower - I enjoyed the hot bath when I got home. My bed is calling my name even now.

Gillian also went with the 6th graders. She said that they had bats that were sleeping in the room with them every night. Pretty brave in my book!

First Swim Meet

2008-09-28T20:20:00.007+03:00

Well, with Lydia being the first of our girls to be involved in competitive swimming, we did not really understand the following . . . until today. We were told that if you only have one more day to live, ask for it to be a swim meet day, and at least it will be as long as it can get!

After watching 3000 entries compete over the weekend, I feel quite experienced already. Lydia was a bit scared the first day. Having her name called over the loud speakers with a couple thousand people watching was more than she realized she was biting off. Once her first meet was behind her, she was good to go. It was all taking so long that they have now taken the last 12 categories and moved them to Wednesday morning. We get one more day of it!

Lydia’s 10th Birthday Party

2008-09-28T20:08:00.008+03:00

On September 27th, Lydia turned 10! She spent the day at her first swimming competition, so we celebrated a week early by inviting 4 friends from school to join her for a head-to-toe pamper party! They started at a nail salon where pedicures and manicures were enjoyed and giggled through. (One benefit of living where labor is cheap!) Pizza followed before we came back to our house for facials. A perfect girl movie followed the cake and ice cream. Jim, who has only one brother, assured me that he had never been given such a birthday party. (All the pampering was more than he had witnessed before!) Lydia’s friends are Madj, MaKayla, Katie, Gracie.

Meet Fred

2008-09-12T09:45:00.008+03:00

Sometimes, when we are in the group of street kids, I wonder what all their stories are. I know some, but others are a mystery to me - a dark mystery that goes places that even if I were told - I could never understand. Questions like "How did they end up in this place?", "What is it like to live here?", "It looks horrible to me, but how bad is it to really be a street kid?"

I want you to meet Fred, one of the guys that has been working side by side with us in the street kids ministry for about one and a half years. He once lived on the street, and recently wrote out his testimony for me. I took it and put it here - word for word as much as I could and have it understandable to you in the states. We are thrilled to tell you now - before you see where he has been - where he is going. He has been called by God to work with street kids and teens. The Lord has also put the need for him to have formal training on the hearts of some believers. He will start a 3 year course in Youth Ministry at the seminary here in November. Now that you know where God has him going, I want to share with you where the Lord saved him from. I also think this will help you - as it did me - in understanding the situation that these street kids find themselves in.

I was born and raised up in a village area. After the death of my father, my uncle took me out of the village area and promised my mother he was going to help her pay my school fees. He took me out of the village area to the city. Things went well for about 2 years, but after that they started mistreating me. Sometimes they made me stay home from school to take care of their younger children. If I told them I wanted to go to school they would hit me. It progressed to where I was their house help – with all house jobs and jobs with children being mine. My aunt then lied that I had taken 1000 shillings from her purse (about $15.00). They locked me in the house and beat me for 3 hours. They then threw me out of the house and I ran for my life.

I was forced to join other kids that lived in the streets while tracing my way back home. I expected to have help – to find my way home, but didn’t. I ended up living on the streets.

Food was a major challenge. The first introduction was how to cope with food problem. We camped at the dumping sites. The competition for food was high since we were not the only scavengers. There were dogs, ravens and marabou storks – as well as many others. So, these meant whoever found the bone first got the meal.

The garbage piles gave us what we needed – from metal to use to cook- to plastic – even drugs. We could tell the area that had fresh garbage because there would be lots of ravens.

Another issue we faced was pain. The only solution for pain, stress, and homesickness used to be drugs. The first drug I was introduced to was glue (bounding glue). We would collect plastics and scrap metal from the garbage pile and exchange that for glue. We would camp out and stay at the garbage piles waiting for more garbage to arrive. We always had sacks with us to collect things from the dump.

The more I stayed there, the more drugs I was introduced to. Marijuana and the like were introduced first. The more expensive drugs were out of reach for us, until we began to be used as peddlers to transport them from one place to another. We would hide them in our sacks full of plastics. It wouldn’t be easy for anyone to know what we were carrying. The owner of the drugs would follow us to where we were taking it – we would just be the ones carrying it. They were scared of the police. I began to transport guns and bullets as well. Many times we were not allowed to see what we were really transporting.

Death was common. Street kids may meet death from a mob or police. We were considered as dirt. Most of the time we could be ambushed with the police. They would beat us and leave us bleeding. I have seen many die, and many others become disabled from being beaten by the police. They would arrest us sometimes claiming they were keeping the city clean. Spending months at a time in jail was common – sometimes in the police station, other times in prison.

When we would get sick, there would be no help, no medication.

After 2 years of living on the streets in these conditions, I decided to quit living the dirty life – and joined a group of muggers. I start becoming involved in mugging, pick pocketing and robbery with violence. Things progressed to threatening people with knives to get valuables, drugging people’s drinks in pubs, and breaking in to their houses. We were now getting a lot of money, but we were spending it drinking and going to nightclubs and bribing policemen and prostitutes.

As life continued, I was arrested again and put in prison for 6 months. When I got out, I found that my gang had advanced. They had advanced to using guns. They began to train me on how to use them and clean them. While I was still learning, a robbery of a gas station was planned. I was left behind on this, and heard the next day that 2 had been killed and 3 were in custody. At this point, I had to decide if I wanted to leave this life or die.

I decided to start a small business. It was then that I decided to quit all that I used to do. By conducting small business, I could still get money to drink and enjoy all sorts of life. It was through that business that I came to know my wife. She introduced me to church and encouraged me to change my life. I decided to accept Jesus Christ and surrender all. It was through my wife that I came to know God. I can say the death of my 2 gang members which had occurred changed me too. Because I was supposed to be among the group, I think God used it to show me how much he wanted to use me and how much he wanted me.

Just in Time

2008-09-10T20:04:00.004+03:00

This past Friday morning at 5 AM, Jim and I left our house to pick up 2 of the pastors from our church. The 4 of us were to join 2 others downtown before the city woke to have a Bible study with the group of street kids. We ended up with around 30 boys and Rispa, the girl in the bunch. With us having 6 workers on this morning, we split up and divided the kids into smaller groups to pray for them. Jim joined with Pastor Boniface to talk with and pray for a group of 5 or so boys.

While talking to them, 3 indicated that they wanted to accept Christ as their Lord. They prayed with them and we talked a bit afterwards. We were so thankful and excited about the decisions each of them had made.

Anton was one of the boys that accepted the Lord that morning. Today we learned that just about 17 hours later he curled up to sleep that night in the alley - for the last time. Sometime in the night police officers came through the alley and shot him while he was sleeping. He went to be with the Lord that evening.

What would it be like - to curl up on the dirt - in clothes that are never washed - in skin that hasn't been bathed in months other than dips in the polluted river that runs through the city? What would it be like to step off into heaven with the cleanliness, peace, and joy - knowing that hunger, pain, loneliness are things that will never be felt again? What would it be like to know you accepted Christ 17 hours before you met Him face to face? Anton knows.

To say that the other boys were attentive this morning would be an understatement. Accepting Christ - for a street kid - is a big deal. They have to stick together in groups for safety. In groups - there is always someone watching - to warn if danger is coming - if the police come. When they accept Christ, the things many did for entertainment or money are no longer acceptable. If you don't join the group in these things, you are not welcome. So, accepting Christ means you are walking away from your peers, your "safety", your family. Anton did this and he did meet the danger that many of the boys fear when they accept Christ. The boys know this, but they also know that he is now in heaven. Pray with us that the Lord will soften the boys hearts and bring them to a saving knowledge of Christ. Pray that they would fear the Lord more than they fear the consequences of accepting Him.

August 2008 Update

2008-08-29T13:43:00.012+03:00

Welcome to our Blog! While we attempted to get this up and running a while back - we are just now actually introducing it. We hope to be able to keep a better handle on keeping everyone updated this way. When something happens - we can update the blog - and then send out a monthly reminder to check what is going on.

At the bottom of this post, I have included several new pictures that have been taken over the past couple of months. The pictures show the lioness that we drove up on, monkeys chewing our wipers - and drinking beer! We don't care for monkeys so much - as we had them open and . . I will just say . . "spoil" our bedding on a recent camping trip. There are a couple of pics of house churches that we were able to attend among the Digo people on the coast. And then there is Jim having his first experience riding an ostrich. I got to take the pictures and was just fine with that! The street boy pictured is one that has recently saved!

Family Update
We are now past the summer break for the kids, and returning to the school routines. Natalie has been enjoying 5 months of being infection free. She has gone for a couple of tests this week, but all seems to be well. Linda has recovered from surgery and is doing well. Still trying to finalize the balance of the hormones and such, but on the way to a full recovery. Jim is enjoying running and being about 40 pounds lighter these days - which is wonderful but sickening me! Gillian is doing great and enjoying being on the middle school worship team at school. Lydia is adjusting to being back at school with her sisters. She found out she made the swim team, so she is thriving on her new found talent in swimming.

Street Kids Update
The street kids ministry is going well. We saw 2 of our regular boys come to the Lord just this past Saturday. Boniface will be moving into a home about 45 min from Nairobi around September 1st. This home has room for him to bring boys to live with him. There are 4 younger boys (around 8 years old) that are ready to come as soon as he has moved in.
We are also still praying over the involvement of Ridgeways Baptist Church with the ministry. They are seeking the Lord's will for how they are to be involved. We are excited to see what the Lord has in mind. The ministry is ready to grow - and to do that we need more help.

Sudan Update
We have a couple of big events coming up for the Southern Sudan team. First - we have a prayer retreat scheduled for October 12-14. Pray with us as we ask the Lord to revive each of us in our walk with Him and to give us direction in our ministries in Southern Sudan.
Towards the end of November, it looks like Linda may be traveling up to Sudan to do some people group research again.

Requests from the Southern Sudan team:

> Team is under spiritual attack.

> Pray for Wycliffe, a national helper for our team. He is having trouble getting back into the country due to documentation issues. He has turned in everything and paid all fees - but the delays are steadily coming. Pray that all this would be worked out. Also - Wycliffe had a motorcycle that he used for ministry that was being held at one of our missionaries houses. Thieves cut into the fence with AK-47's and took his motorcycle. Pray that the motorcycle is recovered by police.

> Pray for our journeymen to be well. They have had some health issues. They are in languages school - and doing well - but need to finish strong.

> The new couple due to come to come in a couple of months to work in Southern Sudan need to sell their house in the next 5 weeks to be able to come. As of now -there has been nobody to even look. Pray that their house sells.

Media Update
Jim is in the process of finishing up the second set of 17 people group prayer cards. If you have not checked out the Standing in the Gap material that he has put together to help churches pray for some of our largest people groups that have some of the greatest spiritual needs - look it up. You can purchase a set for 3.00 off the IMB website - which covers the cost of printing only. This is the link to purchase this online at the IMB website:

http://imbresources.org/index.cfm/fa/store.prod/ProdID/2058.cfm

We are also working on materials for the Digo people who live along the East African Coast. We went on a trip there a couple of weeks ago to gather information and media to create a couple of projects that will help our churches know about how they can join in prayer with the missionaries working among the Digo people. Jim and I will be finishing a virtual prayer walk that can be set up at anywhere - that will guide in praying over our part of Africa. Be looking for that!

The media team is also finishing up the work for the Democratic Republic of the Congo team. Jim does have a tentative trip to the DR Congo planned the last week of November and the first week of December. We will keep you updated on that. They are needing to go into a new area in the central part of the DRC to gather information and look for opportunities to bring the gospel to that area. It will be traveling by foot and canoe deep into the jungle. He is looking forward to that.

Pray for Debbie and Rusty Pugh as they go arrive in the States in the next few days to share with several churches about what is going on in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Pray that people will watch and hear all that is shared. Ask the Lord to call up people to pray for the DR Congo, to go there on short term trips to help and that some would also will be called to go to plant their lives among the Congolese to share with them about Christ.

Jim will have to swallow hard after he views the blog - because of his design background. Hope you enjoy the information and pictures - even though it doesn't have the professional touch that he adds to all that he does!

Thank you again in advance for your prayers for our family and our ministry here in Africa.

We love hearing from you!