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Hey everyone!

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

Well, as you may or may not have heard, yesterday I had a pretty saddening setback in terms of my job as well as my mission.

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

WOW!

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