No 25 Autumn 2005
Click here for PDF Version	Update • Europe Trip • On Camp • Retreat
In this issue:  Update  ... Silver gets stuck in to a spot of   brick laying  Team Retreat  Ian in Europe Nairobi Baptist Association Youth Camp	Update The House Work has been carrying on the new house and compound. The initial push was to secure the site with a wall and this has seen significant progress. Clearing the compound A major job to start the work was clearing the area as it had become overgrown. This process emphasised how some of neighbours had been making full use of space that was not necessarily their own. Some of the money raised was used to ensure legal right to an area of land close to a road that was not clearly part of the property on the deeds. Many of the bricks were made on site although all the work from here will need to done with bought in materials. The wall has been built under the capable oversight of Silver who has rolled up his sleeves and his trousers to get involved himself. The New Wall The house itself still needs some major works to fulfil the teams vision but the changes made already are making the property very useful if not comfortable. The Front Entrance   Kampala Life The situation in Kampala has become much damper with some consistent rains. This is good after the drought which has led to water and power shortages. Of course as soon as you have a lot of rain the roads suffer and in September Silver was stranded in Kenya when the bridge was washed away. STOP PRESS Goodbye BUS Hello RAV4 A RAV4 (A bit newer than the one Ian and the team have found but it gives you an idea!  A good deal needs fast action! A 1995 RAV4 in good condition has been offered to the team by some returning missionaries. At the price it seems an answer to prayer as only last week the support group in the UK were told that the bus needed replacement now. This is only a partial solution as it is much smaller than the bus, and YEA still need to source a full size vehicle. It has been the plan for some time to end up with two motors. A loan has helped us pay for the RAV4 and this means we will be praying in some funds to fill the gap! Update • Europe Trip • On Camp • Retreat

Ian In Europe Ian's diary for his tour of the UK and as much of Europe as he could fit in! Hitting the ground running

I like the term 'hit the ground running'. It brings a cartoon character image of somebody falling out of a tree & running so fast all you see is a circle of rotating legs. You get the picture ? The last few months my life has been a bit like that ……..

Late April I landed in England & my legs started spinning ! My first week was a catch up week, seeing friends, re-connecting with the church, meeting our trustees, checking I was still alive at the Tropical Health Centre etc etc ! The good news is everyone recognized me & I discovered I'm still alive…

Week 2 was much more relaxing with all my family up in Cumbria. My nieces & nephew are growing mighty quick. It would be much simpler if time stood still for 2 years between my visits so I don't need to make so much adjustment.

Week 3 was more meetings as I travelled back from Cumbria. I spent nights in Manchester & Luton & got back to bognor in time for the weekend.

For the next couple of weeks I began ' Kyeyo ' ( working to send money home ) . It seems that most of Bognor residents had overgrown gardens ! This work was punctuated by many wonderful suppers catching up with friends.

At the end of May the church held 'Open Heart ' festival. ( more info on the BRBC website ) This brought together Christians from churches all over Europe & from Brazil. I was one of the chefs & by the end of the weekend we had served up well over 1000 meals.

Europe Trip

After a weekend at my brothers home it was time to pack for Europe. First stop was Horem , near Koln in Germany. A team of us had been invited by the church there to help & encourage them in their local outreach. Several days & loads of German bread & salads later I left the team & took a train for Amsterdam.

I had a great couple of days here staying with my friends in the old city surrounded by canals & thousands of bicycles. Very relaxing but a short time before I was back on the train heading for Oostende.

I should mention that by this point my stomach was beginning to show the effects of so much hospitality.

Destination number for was for a longer visit. Bognor has been connected to the Oostende church since its inception and now there is a partnership developing between Oostende and Kampala since Ingrid Verbiese has spent time in Uganda. While there I was able to strengthen existing friendships and make many new friends. I also preached at the church (translated into Flemish!) and we had an evening meeting about Uganda.

Out of this time I was invited back to Belgium to the national youth camp in Koksjide, so over the next few weeks I felt I was commuting between UK and Belgium. Lots of Belgian cakes continued to minister to my stomach!!!

Onward to Lille and Bethune in France. This was partly to see Junior and Sue (Brazilian and English) pastoring the church in Bethune and meet up with Sonya Kaye (Seattle Washington) who was involved in a mission in Lille. Sonya is a gospel singer who has visited Kampala Baptist Church.

From Lille I raced back to England; last train/ferry/bus of the day and got Bognor at 1am exhausted. And much fatter……….

The rush was because I was scheduled to speak at Eastleigh Baptist church the same day!
 

UK and more travelling

It's now July, more "kyeyo" then on the train down to Devon to see my friends Chay and Miia and new baby Eini (the Finnish influence for those of you new to the name).

The day I was connecting from Devon to Portsmouth (for the ferry to Guernsey) was the 7th of july2005.My travel through London was curtailed by the suicide bomber so I saw parts of the country you don't normally see, while finding an alternative route.

Despite the disruption I made the ferry and spent a long weekend in Guernsey. Marie Marquis has worked in heath education projects for youth in Hoima, Uganda. I visited her church, met up with Stuart and Joyce Filby and was interviewed on BBC radio-Guernsey. Recent world events meant I got questioned about Moslem/Christian relations more than my actual work. I was also given a wonderful tour of Guernsey. It's a beautiful island.

The time I had left became crammed. Apart from the repeat trip to Belgium for the youth camp, I managed to spend another week up north with my family, put on a Ugandan feast in Bognor, caught up with many more friends, a bit more "kyeyo" and a lot more good food.

So it was at 7:25pm on 9th of August 2005 that I squeezed into my seat (I am sure the seats have shrunk……..) on BA63 back to Entebbe and HOME………………!

I had a fantastic, exciting and exhausting 3 months but it feels so good to have my feet back on African soil.
 

Update • Europe Trip • On Camp • Retreat

On Camp A report by Colin about the Kenya Trip

On the 22nd-August,we set off from Uganda and arrived in via Nairobi on the evening of 23rd.

Nairobi Baptist Association Youth Leaders' Camp

The 3 day NBA (Nairobi Baptist Association) youth leaders' camp started on the morning of the 24th at the Baptist High School-Tudor (Mombasa).
It's a camp that was organized by the Nairobi Baptist Association youth office specifically to train and equip young and upcoming youth leaders for ministry.

We were expecting about 50-60 young people; God had another plan. We had a small number turn up-a potential discouragement you should think; not in any way, we made sure camp was meaningful and empowering and fun for all that turned up; by Gods grace of course.

DAY 1

Ian though a bit tired faithfully and effectively taught on the theme" New mind for new life". In the afternoon we went to Nyali public beach-a very beautiful beach at the Indian ocean. Ian led a bible study there; the campers loved it there. In the meantime our relationships with the campers increasingly became stronger and tighter. Suppertime - we ate very delicious coastal pilao (rice). We went for the evening session and bedtime was at 9:30pm.We were all looking forward to our beds because we were all very tired-the campers too. Good night to Day1.

DAY 2

ts Thursday morning (1am). We were all turning and twisting in our beds, we couldn't sleep. The Kenyan bedbugs and mosquitoes were having a field day out feasting on us. We changed positions (from beds to the floor), changed mattresses, all in vain!! The man-eaters kept enjoying us up to morning. We woke up (after like 2 hours of sleep); a good morning-NO we didn't thinks so!!!! We swore we wouldn't spend Thursday night or any other night in the school dormitory-the mosquitoes and bedbugs must have been really sad! Very sad!!! Apart from that, Ian again faithfully and effectively taught on the theme" I’m just not good enough". Day 2 went as usual. In the meantime our friendships were becoming stronger and stronger, camp was really fun. On Thursday night, Douglas led a bible study. We evacuated our bedroom at the school on Thursday night and went searching for a lodging in Mombassa town; we found one. Bedtime again, we all went to sleep very tired but very joyful and happy. God was effectively using us. Good night to day2.

DAY 3

We woke up happy, and of course you know the reason why-no bedbugs and gigantic mosquitoes!! Unfortunately this was the last day of camp, it had been cut short so it was ending on Friday night. Ian taught his last session on the theme "The man God can use". We spent the afternoon at Nyali public beach- swimming, chatting, laughing, playing football etc The campers loved it there. I led a bible study on Friday night (8-9pm) and after that we had a mini music concert-the campers loved it, we enjoyed it too. Everyone was happy. 10:30pm we had to leave and so it was time to say bye to all our friends-always a sad yet happy experience saying farewell to friends and loved ones. We finally said farewell to everyone and went back to our lodging in town. .

We enjoyed this camp and knew that God had used us for his purpose-it wasn't time wasted. After camp we still had one more week in Mombassa.

All glory and thanks to our God.
 

MPC and Partnerships

YEA has been working in Kenya for sometime; building church partnerships and relationships with individuals is important to our ministry. So when in Mombassa, we met up with the youth pastor of Mombassa Pentecostal Church-Pastor Ahmed (a Muslim turned Christian) and his wife and co-partner in ministry, very nice and godly people. At this fruitful meeting, we talked about how much more we can do to strengthen our partnerships with MPC and its sister churches; we also discussed more work possibilities in youth ministry in Mombassa. While in Mombassa we were invited to the youth worship concert on the Saturday afternoon and the youth service on Sunday. We went to the concert on the Saturday and sang a song in luganda. The MPC young people sang a lot of nice Swahili songs. On the Sunday we sang at the youth service and met most of the young people. We also met up with Sammy Balusi another YEA team member and discussed possibilities of working in Mwanza.

Back in Nairobi, we had a meeting with Pastor Kip-the youth pastor of PARKLANDS Baptist Church (Nairobi)-a very nice guy. More discussions on doing ministry together followed with Kip. In the next few months we will be doing a lot of work with MPC and PBC ad the church in Mwanza. Once again very fruitful meetings.

Thanks to every one that made it possible for us to make this trip.

Update • Europe Trip • On Camp • Retreat

Team Retreat Douglas reports on a time of great hardship...

Did you know the first time I set foot in Kenya I was arrested….. ? Well you can't miss this. My lovely brothers Collin & Ian had the requirements but I thought I had the brains . I was personally arrested as I paved my way through the border, only to realize I missed 2 stamps on my travel document. This left Collin laughing as he saw me being helped to the officers desk. What a start to the journey that I had anticipated for so much… ! Anyway the bus was great as we kept reading books & gazing at the beautiful sceneries that make Kenya one of the beautiful places in Africa. The national parks, the grassland, the Rift Valley , spiced our journey, giving us a lot to talk about & thank God for. Hmm ! ! Keeping quiet about this will surely trigger an explosion from the chambers of my heart because what I experienced a few weeks ago leaves a story worth telling.

And so to Mombassa for a busy week running the Nairobi Baptist association camp & other activities around the city [see Colin’s report above for details.]. …. Remember the words of the famous wise Solomon " There is a time for everything " After spending so much time working together we really longed for a holiday. The 3 adventurous missionaries , Collin, Ian & I hopped onto a ferry after a quick shopping , to be truly blown away. A beautiful apartment, fully furnished & with a front view across the Indian Ocean. The beach ahead of our lounge area made us feel like our ideal days were coming to pass as we made our way through the 3 bedrooms, the kitchen, the library, the beautiful compound with swings, trampoline , to mention but a few, making us feel once again like children in an amusement world .

Remember the Lord hates jealousy…. Thank God that we had a glimpse of heaven on earth. Nights saw us devoting our time to inspirational books, & study on the book of James which helped us reflect on our Christian walk as we shared passages that ministered to us in different ways. The humour in these 2 brothers of mine really kept us sharing jokes, interesting stories as we made ourselves cups of coffee, preparing different dishes , thus balancing our fun & food & faith. The break was fun… Well more than fun. But now it was time to begin the long journey back to Kampala. We moved from bus to ferry & now the famous train. What a train trip… !

If you were thinking of keeping time while in Kenya please adjust your programme. The train scheduled to leave at about 7pm kept at the station longer than we had speculated. Being tired I kept in our cabin as Ian & Collin felt perfect engineers of the day. They went to see why we still hadn't left the station, only to realize there wasn't any engine to pull the train… Ha Ha Ha…Doesn't this mean we go back to our lodgings ? NO ! Communication later was passed that in about an hours time we would be leaving , but we didn't leave till about 10.30pm. Food , food & food. The trains restaurant really played its part as we were served like we had been starving for days. This 5 star treatment kept us happy that, though the train hadn't departed at least we had our fill to the bellies. Finally we left Mombasa & to our cabin we fell asleep till breakfast when the bell sounded in our ears. The line through the Nairobi National park kept us viewing beautiful animals like Zebras, birds like the Ostrich among other beasts. It was fun. We arrived in Nairobi at about midday, not a mite tired till we felt the Nairobi atmosphere that was a little unfriendly but still we coped. Hey.. It was such fun being on holiday & travelling on mission.

Update • Europe Trip • On Camp • Retreat