I have never found teaching to be one of my gifts, but it was so fun to see all the kids participating and getting so excited about understanding the problems and shouting out the right answers.

After class, the kids had break which consisted of us playing jump rope, swinging the kids around, and otherwise just hanging out. It also consisted of Bre accidentally letting out a dog which then proceeded to chase all the kids around while they laughed and screamed until Julius caught the dog and tied her to a stake in the corner of the campus. After that break, the kids had Bible class and during that Bre and I sat and talked with Leila and Manu (Emmanuel) about the cultural differences between Kenya and America while Alice kept on with inputting the children’s info.

After Bible class the kids had another break and shortly after that lunch was served to all the students. It was SO cool to see how efficiently the center manages to feed all these kids.

Look at just this portion of the line for food:

But the entire line was had received their meal in about 5-7 minutes! It was so cool to see this because these are kids who, if it were not for Oasis, would be begging for bread, avoiding beatings from the security guards, and otherwise just trying to get by and stay alive. But at Oasis, these kids are receiving education, vocational training, food, and genuine love and relationships. It is SUCH a beautiful thing to watch and be a part of.

Peter enjoying lunch in his awesome blazer

Michael is digging in to his githeri

After lunch, Bre, Alice, and I walked back home to eat lunch  and rest up. After that Bre and Alice went to Boys’ House #2 to do some tutoring. You can see pictures from that at Alice’s blog. As for me, Alice started a conversation between Geoffrey and me to begin working on designing a new website for Oasis of Hope and so I spent my afternoon and evening working on that. It was so awesome to be able to use one of my God-given gifts for ministry like that. Here is a sneak peak of the up and coming redesign. (You can click on it for a bigger version)

Thanks for reading!

Peace and love,
J

Here is my first attempt at a more readable (read: smaller) blog post about my experiences here in Kitale. Today we woke up and got ready and were picked up by Richard, Sister Freda’s husband, to visit the school, hospital, and other facilities that Sister Freda and her staff run.

For those who don’t know, Sister Freda runs a free hospital out here in Kitale. By free, I mean that people can pay whatever they can afford, even if it means nothing, to receive the care and medicine that they need. Anything from childbirth to surgery, vaccines to malaria treatment, it is all covered here. She also runs a school and feeding program for neighboring children as well as has a traveling clinic where she and some staff travel to towns further away that cannot walk to her hospital to provide health care.

They are also building a nursing school to train more nurses to help around her facilities. Lastly, they have tens of acres of various crops that are used primarily to feed the children, and secondly to sell to raise funds to run their other facilities (in addition to donations).

It was so amazing to see all that Sister Freda and her staff are doing for so many people free of charge. It really hits home for me because with all of the talk about universal health care in the States, I really feel that the Church has such an awesome opportunity to step up and fill the need like Sister Freda has.

When we first got to the compound, we visited the children at the school.

Elia!

Unfortunately, there were so many kids and not a whole lot of time before they got called in for porridge and class, but there was one little girl who absolutely stole my heart. This girl was Dot.

Alice holding Dot

Dot is the cutest little girl I think I have ever seen in my entire life. She didn’t say a word to any of us, though she made a few noises, but she was calm and just loved to be held. You could try and try to make her smile or laugh and she never would, but occasionally she would let out a big smile for seemingly no reason.

Dot came to Sister Freda’s extremely malnourished. Sister Freda actually described her as being unrecognizable as even a human because she was so tiny. She lives at Freda’s compound and has been being taken care of and although still tiny, she is now doing much better and growing healthily. After we hung out with all of the kids, Richard took us on a walk around all of the acres of crops and we took Dot along with us. I took quite a few pictures of her hoping that maybe I could capture part of the reason I loved her so much for everyone reading along.

She was absolutely adorable and I loved having her on the walk with us. After our walk around the premises, we went and ate lunch with Freda and Richard (black beans, rice, and potatoes – there were also two meat dishes which I passed on). Freda then had to run and take care of other things and Richard took us home after the brief rainstorm passed.

I got to catch up on blogging and reading and some Youtube watching (go there and search “boy sees lobster for first time” for a good laugh) and then Alice made us some delicious buttered noodles with corn. After which, our Kenyan friend Leila who lives with us informed Alice that she would be making dinner from here on out.

So now it is almost time for bed and another busy day tomorrow! My closing note for everyone is that always remember:

Peace and love,
J

(Funny side note: We had to wake up at 5:30am to leave for the airport, which is pretty early after all of our travelling, and I didn’t have any working time/alarm utility so my body was hyperaware and woke me up at 1:30 and I tried to use my iPod to tell the time and thought I was right on time. It turns out it was really 1:30 which I figured out after showering and getting dressed so then I went back to bed for another four hours. Whoops!)

We are ready to fly from Nairobi to Kitale!

The flight to Kitale was uneventful but wow, it was such a small airplane! Check it out!

Once we landed in Kitale, we were driven straight from the airstrip (yes, airstrip, NOT airport. I will try to get pictures when we fly out) to our compound. We dropped our bags off and headed straight to the Oasis of Hope center. The kids were all out and about and we had a lot of fun playing with them right off the bat despite being exhausted. We played the Swahili versions of Red Rover and Duck, Duck, Goose and just hung out and got to know Geoffrey and some of the other volunteer staff at the center along with the students.

After our visit there, we went to the girls’ home to meet the girls who live there and have dinner with them. I really fell in love with all of these girls. They were so much fun and were so silly to watch play and dance. They played one game with marbles which basically consisted of catapulting your own marble at the others’ marbles and every time you hit one, you got ten points and got to go again. The first to one hundred points won the game. It looked like SO much fun, but I was so busy still taking everything in that I did not participate. Alice tried her hand at it, but wasn’t able to quite get the catapulting technique.

The girls playing their marble game

After the marble game, came some form of hopscotch which I could tell just by watching, that I had NO chance of playing, so I stood by as a cheerleader!

The girls' hopscotch-esque game

While all the games and dancing were going on, other girls and the house mom, Rebecca were preparing dinner for us. Dinner consisted of rice, green grams, potatoes, and chapati. For those who haven’t heard from past Kenya visitors, green grams are a delicious kind of lentils and chapati is like flatbread and is SO tasty, but also SO filling.

The girls flattening out dough for chapati

After dinner, we went back to our home and fell fast asleep. The next day we headed out to Kitale Family for family visiting day. These are all kids who started out at the Oasis center, and now they attend boarding school (the school is called Kitale Family). Since they are all street kids, their family is the people at Oasis of Hope so we are who visit them on family visiting day. Olivia, Geoffrey’s wife, brought them chips (French fries) and sodas as a treat. We picnicked outside for a while, but then it began to rain so we ran into one of the classrooms and sang songs inside and chatted and hung out. Here are a few pictures from that!

Bre and I with all of the Kitale Family Kids

Sweet little Irene who is a sister of some of the kids I have adored most since being here.

Irene attends Kitale Family and she has three sisters that I have met, Christine and Ajix who live in the girls’ house, and Lucy who attends the Oasis center, and one brother that I briefly met named Patrick. They are all such adorable kids with SUCH personality.

After Kitale Family, we went to the Oasis center for a youth meeting where the older kids all come together and essentially have a bible study of sorts and also have a round-table type discussion to help each other with whatever they may be going through at the time. It was SO cool to witness the faith of all these guys and girls and see them praise the Lord and help each other out. That wrapped up our Saturday.

On Sunday, we woke up and went to church at the Oasis center. First, let me just say how much I LOVE the singing style out here. It is so cool to witness them sing, whether for worship or for recreation. It’s so hard to describe but it is almost all acapella and clapping and it is just so beautiful. After the service (which was mostly in Swahili, but partly translated) we all went out into the outside area and just hung out and played with all of the kids for a couple hours and Alice tutored some of the older boys who have their exams coming up quickly to decide what secondary school (high school) they can get into.

Kamau and David were SO stinkin' cute. We fake fought and wrestled and whenever I "knocked" them down I would throw my fists in the air and yell "Winner!" So you see Kamau imitating that here.

Kamau and David give me their best fighting poses

Left to Right: Ajix, Hellen, David, Kamau, Christine

I let the kids have my camera for a little while and here are some of the pictures that came back to me afterwards:

Janet holding baby Verity (who is terrified of Muzungus (white people))

Christine and Janet styling Bre's hair

Alice, who was so shy at first gets silly for pictures

Left to right: David, me, Michael

David decided to usher me off as a prisoner

...so then I got him back later!

Christine and Janet play with my hair while Michael squeezes in his flowers.

All the while, Alice was tutoring.

The rain was coming so we eventually left the center and tried to make our way into town. We had to stop under a little shop’s roof while the rain came and went and made a friend there, Edward, who gave us his email address to keep in touch. We got to town and ate and then came home and I went to sleep at around 6pm because I was SO exhausted.

Today, we went to Oasis in the beginning of the day and Bre and I helped to teach an English class while Alice talked with Geoffrey and built our schedule for the week. After that, we went into town to make copies of math assignments for more tutoring and also got lunch. While Alice was finishing the copying, I got to talk to several street kids which was SUCH an awesome experience. It was pretty brief, but I hope to get to do it more over the next several weeks we are here.

After that we went to the boys’ home #2 and Bre and I helped Alice keep tutoring the older boys in math for a couple of hours before returning home to a delicious dinner of githeri (maize, beans, and potatoes) prepared  by Leila and Emmanuel and now I am going straight to bed! But first, a last few pictures of Alice tutoring the boys.

Left to right: Alice, Martin, Moses, Steward

Class 7 (7th grade) tutoring table

Th-th-that’s all for now folks! I promise to be much more brief from now on. For anyone who actually read this far: God bless your soul and I sincerely apologize for delaying and thus, dragging out the length of this post.

Peace and love,
J

Long time no post! I am so sorry for my lack of regularity in posting. My life has been a whirlwind up to this point, especially with this trip. Because of external circumstances, the trip will likely now be six weeks in length though I won’t be able to make the final decision until I am in Kitale and can really hear the Lord’s call for me there.

Today is the day I actually make my way to Kenya slowly but surely. I woke up at 4am this morning (EST, since I have spent the last few days in Newport News, VA with my girlfriend and her family) and got to the airport shortly after 5am. I just landed in Atlanta a few minutes ago safe and sound. I now get to sit around the airport until approximately 4:40pm when my next flight leaves to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, I will meet up with Alice and Bre and then I have a three hour layover and then another long flight to Nairobi, Kenya at about 7pm, their time. Once in Nairobi, we will get picked up and spend the night there and then take another quick flight the next morning to Kitale.

It will definitely be a long and exhausting day, but I am so excited for this trip to be finally getting underway after all the preparation and anticipation up to this point. I am already missing everything and everyone back home, but I know that God has great things waiting for me in Kenya. I keep hearing over and over again how working in this area is nothing short of life changing and I am so eager to see how God grows me while I am there.

For everyone reading this who is praying for me and my trip, I ask that today and tomorrow (I won’t be arriving until October 1!) you focus your prayers on safe and “easy” travel and also, more importantly, that God’s will be done and that I have an attitude of flexibility and peace with His will.

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me in any way up until this point! The preparations for this trip have been tough physically and emotionally, but it is finally happening and I am so appreciative for how God has used each of you to make this happen. Now that the trip is finally underway, you can definitely expect more regular updates from me including pictures and stories of all that I am seeing and experiencing.

In His name – peace and love,
Jordan

In the middle of the night, my car window was smashed in while in the driveway of my house, and my laptop and Bible were stolen from my car. Unfortunately, because of super high deductibles, neither the homeowners’ insurance nor the auto insurance will provide any financial aid in recuperating costs for the window repair ($500), the Mac laptop ($2,000), or my Bible ($60), and I am in no financial state to be able to replace it on my own.

This is really saddening on so many levels for me because my computer is SUCH a part of everything I do. It is important in my job, it is my hobby, AND I was SO excited to be able to be able to keep everyone who was interested updated on my trip & preparations via my blog, Facebook, and email while I was in Kenya. Without my laptop, I will not be able to do that in the way I had envisioned. (I am sure I will be able to borrow Alice’s once in a while, etc.)

I’m not sure what the spiritual implications are of this. Is it an attack to discourage & dishearten me? (Everything has been going SO well up until now!!) Did Satan just feel it was necessary to launch an attack to dampen my spirits? Or maybe does God know that I would be more effective on my trip without a laptop? Or is it just a lesson in trust and peace? (Or any or all of the above?) As such, I am trusting that God will do what needs to be done if I am supposed to have a computer while I am out there.

I DO ask that, for those who want to support me with prayer, you pray that God’s will be done and that I can have peace with whatever His will may be. As you can imagine, I am still feeling violated and distraught, but I am striving to remember that God is always in control no matter what and that whatever happens, happens for good. (Romans 8:28)

Thank you in advance for your prayers, and I will continue to keep everyone up-to-date on all the upcoming progress for my trip.

Peace and love,
Jordan

So, it has been a bit of a time since I last updated anything on here, and my life has been anything but dull.

First, I moved out of the house where I had been renting a room for the last two years, and in with my grandparents! This will help me cut down on expenses at home while I am in Kenya and not earning a living. Also, due to other circumstances, we were given a move-out date of July 1st, but my family had a vacation planned for June 23rd, so that was a hectic week for me! In fact, I am still partially living out of boxes at Grammie and Grampie’s since I haven’t gotten much of a chance to slow down since the vacation.

Second (and lastly), God has come through so strong in providing the funds needed to make my mission to Kenya successful. I have raised almost 2/3 of my original goal which will be enough to allow me to go on the trip with everything I need. It is cutting it a little close, so I am sending out a few more letters to professional acquaintances to help secure the last few hundred dollars (as well as hoping that some more letters I sent out will find their way back to me!).

Now, for those of you who read my support letter, you may be thinking to yourself, “I thought he needed to raise $9,000 for this trip,” and let me assure you, you are not wrong. That was the original amount I was going to need, but due to some external circumstances, my departure to Kenya will now take place on or around September 12th as opposed to mid-August, as had been originally planned. I still plan to return to the States on Christmas Eve, so my trip is being cut short by approximately one month. As you can imagine, this reduces the amount I need to make the trip work.

(If you would like to reduce your donation amount because of my shortened trip, let me know, and we can can get some of that back to you.)

Now, I understand that some people who have contributed to this mission may have given with the idea that I would be in Kenya for four and a half months as opposed to three and a half months, and if that is the case for you, please feel free to let me know how you would like to adjust your donation, and I will make sure to have that done.

All that said, it has been an exciting last few weeks, and I know I have been awfully silent here on the blog, but I assure you, as soon as I am in Kenya, this blog will be THE place to be! Coming up soon: getting my shots, booking my flight, and all the other prerequisites to a trip of this magnitude.

Thanks for reading and God bless!
Jordan

Well, it took me a bit longer than I had anticipated, but I finally finished my support materials, stuffed and posted 150 envelopes, and even got most of them into the mail the next day.

I pulled out all the stops and used a lot of my spare time to design each of these three pieces myself using my limited (though always growing) graphic design abilities.

If you are reading this, hopefully I have your address and have mailed you a letter along with the prayer and support cards. If you haven’t received one yet, that means I don’t have your address, so please use the Contact Me page to send me your address and I will get one to you ASAP.

Or, if you would like to save me a few cents in postage, feel free to visit my new Support Me page, print out a copy of everything for yourself, and mail me back a completed support card. I really want to hear from everyone who will be following along with me through my nearly four and a half month journey. 

If you do choose to save me the postage, you can send the cards back to me at:
Jordan Maslyn
15520 Rockfield Blvd., Suite G
Irvine, CA 92618

Oh, and by the way, if you do feel like you have the ability to help me out financially for my trip, you can make your contribution tax-deductible by writing it to “Reaching Beyond Ourselves.” If you do choose to do this, please make sure you do not write my name anywhere on the check.

I have already received my first card back along with lots of encouraging words and text messages from friends and family! It is so cool to see how supportive people are of what I am feeling led to do and it means a lot to me.

After I raise enough funds, the two things I have to get done right away are book a flight and get all my shots and pills. The flight alone is approximately $1,500-$2,000 round trip. Yikes!

Also, I am not sure of the logistics, but I have heard that it can be worked out to contribute airline miles to my trip. So, if you have tons of miles building up and feel led to help me out in some way or another, consider donating your miles which could be such a HUGE blessing to me and my mission.

Anyhow, that is all the news I have for now! I will make sure to keep everyone posted. Please always feel free to email me or find me on Facebook or Twitter and keep in touch with me there!

kwa herini (goodbye in Swahili),
Jordan

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.”

“I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, “But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, “It made a difference for that one.”

by Loren Eiseley adapted from The Star Thrower

This story is such an excellent illustration of how all acts of kindness and selfless service, no matter how big or small, can make a difference in the world. It is a great reminder that we are not responsible for solving all of the world’s problems. We are just responsible for doing our part.

Peace and love,
Jordan

(For those who don’t know, Alice Hibbard is a long time friend of mine who I met through Saddleback Church and have remained close to since Junior High. She spends half the year in Kitale, Kenya. And it is through her that God opened the door for me to go on this trip.)

Now first, let me give you a little background. Alice had recently told me someone else was coming and instantly I was nervous. Thoughts ran through my mind like what if I didn’t like her, what if she didn’t like me, what if she didn’t think I was funny, what if I didn’t think she was funny!? Spending four and a half months with someone you do not thoroughly enjoy could be gruesome.

So we decided to have dinner to get to know one another a little bit better. Well dinner turned into dessert and dessert turned into more conversation and all in all, the three of us got to spend three great hours getting to know each other better.

Well, all that to say, I think this will be the most enjoyable four and a half months of my life. First and foremost, I will get to be serving God and hanging out with kids, two of my favorite things. In addition, it will be alongside two girls whom I can tell it will be very easy to spend that much time with. Lots of talking, lots of laughing, and lots of loving God and people is going to occur on this trip. 

WHY CAN’T IT BE AUGUST YET!?

Side note: I have finished the design of my support letters and am wrapping up some finishing touches before I send them out. So, if I have your address, you should be getting one soon (hopefully early next week) and if I don’t, please drop me an email with your address so I can send you one.

Peace and love,
Jordan

As some of you may or may not have heard, I am planning on going on a four and a half month mission trip to Kitale, Kenya. I have created this blog to help keep everyone updated as I prepare for the trip as well as while I am there.

I will be updating regularly so check back often or feel free to use the RSS link on the right to subscribe!

Peace and love!
Jordan