... and our journey begins. Six of the twelve board members from Bridge Ministries are about to leave northern Nevada for London, then Nairobi, Kenya.
Here are the members of our team: Greg & Jeannie Burns; Vic & Connie Marques; Gary Weigel, and me (our wives are teachers, so they can't make this trip)! We've been planning for the past few months, and we've been shopping and stuffing bags for the past few days. I'm still repairing things that have broken at home for the past several hours... but the plane will leave anyway!
Our mission has several objectives. Bridge has worked for the past 3 years to help encourage and financially support the teachers at Mathare Community Outreach, a school in one of the worst and oldest slums in Africa (this is from the Africans' point of view). 1 sq km of an old open-pit mine now is home to 600,000 people. Teachers at MCO risk their lives and health by choosing to teach in these conditions. But as Jane, one of the teachers put it so well, "This is not a job, but a call [from God]".
We feel our efforts to come alongside them is a call, too. We wish to encourage these teachers who serve the children of Mathare so sacrificially in Jesus' name. We'll also be working out details of Bridge's teacher sponsorship program with the MCO school board.
We plan to visit successful participants of our Biashara (business entrepreneur) program, who have undergone training and now are supporting themselves and their families through their businesses. We'll see old beloved friends and make new ones; and we'll visit a new ministry or two.
We're going to take turns posting on this blog to keep you informed. I think you'll enjoy the different perspectives each person will offer.
For now, my perspective is getting more limited as my eyelids droop! Thanks for reading and for praying. We're going not out of any sense of self-importance, but rather dependent on our Lord Jesus, knowing that He will guide and do amazing things for His glory and for the poorest of the poor.
Get some rest!
Love,
Don
