Today's update really was going to be short and sweet. Hopefully it's still sweet! = )
Joyce, Hillary's wife, has graduated from seminary, and there was great rejoicing! Our own Mark Phillips did a great job delivering the commencement address.
Mark speaks; Hillary translates for him
All the graduates; Joyce front row, center, with glasses
Now Mark and Scott are each embarking on their own mad scramble:
- Mark's scramble is to make his initial homeward flight which leaves Nairobi at 1:20 AM local time, 5:20 PM today (Friday) MO time. His family will be thrilled to greet him at the airport in NW Arkansas at about 7:00 PM Saturday! It's a mad scramble because, last I heard, they weren't sure how Mark was getting from the graduation ceremony to the airport. Never fear; get there he will. Mark is nothing if not resourceful!
- Scott' scramble is to travel to Tororo, Uganda to present an abbreviated Better Together marriage seminar before his initial flight home. Tororo is 252 miles west of Nairobi. If I have the details right, Scott will fly in the wee hours of Saturday morning local time to Eldoret, Kenya, then be driven four hours to Tororo (including an international border crossing) by Hellen's husband, Symon, where he will hold the marriage seminar later on Saturday. A really good thing is that Symon and Hellen, who are working to re-create their marriage after 25 years apart, will be attending that Better Together seminar! Then, sometime afterwards (Saturday night? Sunday morning?) Symon will drive Scott to... I can't remember which city he told me... from which he will fly back to Nairobi with only a couple hours of margin before his initial homeward flight home departs at 6:00 PM. There's some concern about the possibility of the flight from (which city?) back to Nairobi being cancelled.
Current Prayer Requests:
1. Mark and his luggage to make his departing flight from Nairobi and his connections in Doha and Chicago. Safety, peace, and sleep during his trip home. God's continued help and care for his wife, Whitney, and their two sons.
2. Scott to get safely to and from the Better Together seminar in Tororo and the Holy Spirit to guide him as he whittles down his usual six-hour seminar into the shorter (four-hour?) available time frame. All the attendees to come away with memorable, practical to-dos to improve their marriages. No flight cancellations for Scott.
3. God to continue to work in the hearts and lives of everyone Our Four have impacted during this mission trip; all the people in all those new DM groups to develop deep roots and grow up to bear "fruit that remains!"
And Finally, Culturally Speaking:
Our regional pillars who oversee and serve multiple DM coaches in various far-flung regions of Kenya and Tanzania (soon to include Uganda and Rwanda!) didn't know each other before coming to the Pillars Summit. In addition, as church leaders in East Africa, they are used to going to a seminar and sitting and being taught without really interacting with each other: "Go, attend, listen, leave" is the norm. But the whole disciple-making movement is based on relationships. So, in addition to all the great teaching and significant ministry, those pillars did mixers, laughed, and had fun together.
It sounds like in Kenya, pastors and church leaders are pretty much "all work and no play." They are serious about the things of God, and fun is generally not on the menu. If you know Scott, you know that is NOT how he rolls, so he had the pillars plus Our Four playing spoons. The only video we have of it is of the initial set-up and Scott explaining how the game is played. It's almost a minute and a half long. But he said that once they got the hang of it, they had a blast, laughing, hollering, and falling over each other trying to grab a spoon. It was just what they needed to relax and feel like a cohesive team.
YOU are our team, and we're so, so grateful for your prayers, encouragement, and support. Please join us now in praying that every detail of this mission trip, down to the final moment, will be productive and end WELL. Thank you!
Blessings,
Patty