The Sawyers

The Youth Center

2012-02-07T19:35:00.003+03:00

This is the floor plan for the Youth center we are hoping to build in Masai Mara. It seems we currently are missing a lot of the younger folks age 16-30 in our church. We have them from small children all the way up to about age 15-16 and then they go off to high school or seem to just lose interest. I have asked a few different local men over the past 6-8 months what we can do to draw that age group back in and where are they going and what are they doing? Most of the men said that those younger guys are hanging out in town playing pool and watching soccer on the T.V. The problem is that the pool tables are in the bars where there is all kinds of evil lurking. Alcohol, Prostitutes, Drugs etc... is in those places and the younger guys are falling into a lot of bad things that all started with just wanting to play pool or watch a game on T.V.
After hearing this and getting some ideas from those guys We came up with a youth center. It would be a place were these younger aged folks could come and play games and watch the soccer games on T.V as well as hear the Gospel and be in a clean environment. It would also serve as a Youth Sunday School room. It would give us the opportunity to reach people that otherwise we would never have contact with.
We are hoping to start breaking ground (Digging and getting the foundation ready) by May. If anyone is interested in partnering with us in this project that would be great. It is not like building a youth center in The States were it might be hundreds of thousands of dollars but the plan in the picture is around $15,000 that is games and all!!!. Please feel free to contact us at tmmsawyer@gmail.com if you are interested in helping and please tell others about this current need.

First class with new believers.

2011-07-25T10:14:00.003+03:00

We have been so blessed to see three young boys come to know Jesus Christ. Yesterday they shared their testimonies of saving faith. It brought tears to my eyes to hear them talk about their love for Jesus and desire to walk a life of faith in Him!

The boys sharing their testimony of coming to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Travis and the boys in their first class together. Very happy time as you can see on all their faces.

Please pray for the people here that God will continue to call them to Himself, and that if He so chooses we might be a help along the way.

Exciting Times!

2011-07-25T09:39:00.005+03:00

Today Travis is pouring the second slab for our house! We are so happy to see this move forward. It will be an exciting day when we can move into our house and Travis can set up his shop! Please pray with us as we trust the Lord to provide the funds needed to finish our house and hopefully be in it by December! Second pour happening right now! Sarah always there to help out!
Travis, Barnard and Francis after a long day on the first pour!

First pour last week!

2011-07-18T11:20:00.003+03:00

It sure seems like life can pass you by if you don't pay attention. Furlough as come and gone and here we are in the Masai Mara again. We are happy to be starting our second term on the mission field. When we left for the US last year we were so reluctant because people were starting to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, we didn't want to miss out on the discipleship. On our return to Kenya, we have been blessed to see the growth in these young believers. God continues to bless us, in allowing us to be a part of His amazing work of calling people to Himself. In the past week, 3 young boys of prayed to their creator God to be saved! Travis is excited to start disciplining these young men.
Over the past few months being back, Travis has started work on our house. As you may all know, we live in our shop. Travis is anxious to move us out of "his" shop and get us into our house, so that he can started working on helping other men with various things. He would love to teach men to weld, mechanic and such.
Travis stays very busy with work and ministry on a daily basis. Hard to keep up with him really! I'm sure he is thankful he is done digging out all those huge rocks for our house site.
I stay very busy in the home, with homeschooling Sarah(9) and Summer(7), keeping Savannah(3) and Skylar(2) from hurting themselves or destroying my house, preparing for Womens Bible study weekly, and all the other things moms do.
Thankful to be home!
Laura

Skylar's Song

2011-03-11T07:08:00.002+03:00

Click the link to see Skylar chewing gum and singing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh5kL2MtVoI

Sawyer Scoop March 2011

2011-03-01T02:57:00.001+03:00

Greetings from the Sawyers. We are currently on the countdown of heading back to Kenya for our second term. We have less than 4 weeks left!!! We fly out of Atlanta on March 30th! We hope this newsletter finds you all doing well as well as gives you some information you may or may not know. Enjoy.
How can we help?
One of the number one questions we were asked this year while being on furlough and traveling all over the place was “What can we do to help?” It is always nice to hear people ask this. Most people grab their wallets tightly while asking this question because in the world we live in when people think of missions and missionaries they are used to being ask for something, usually money. I personally like being asked this because I want people feel like they are a part of the Gospel being spread in another country, and the question gives me the opportunity to educate in how that is possible. There are 3 things I have come to realize when it comes to missions. You either GO, SEND or you DISOBEY.

In our day and time we like to take Matthew 28:18-20 and give ourselves an excuse saying, that is only for missionaries. In fact however, it is for Christian’s period. If you call yourself a Christian you are to be making Disciples. When it comes to the going to the remotest parts of the earth as Acts 1:8 tells us that is where missionaries come in handy. Remember the church in Acts 13 Paul and Barnabas were set aside and the whole church did not up and go but sent them. They were as much a part of fulfilling the Great commission. It takes both the Goers and the Senders.

So here is my answer to “how can we help?” 1. Pray for us. Prayer is a huge part of our ministry in Kenya. I have no doubt that we have been kept from diseases and other certain dangers because of the people back home that pray for us. I also have no doubt that because of faithful people praying for the ministry we have been able to witness the Lord calling people to Himself. Be aware when asking us for prayer requests, we can keep you pretty busy.

2. Finacially. It takes people committed to giving on a monthly basis for us to be able to stay and do ministry and other projects overseas. We are not permitted to be employed to make money overseas, so we depend on the faithful people and churches who God has called to give faithfully every month. A couple interesting facts most people don’t know. It takes about the same amount of money monthly to feed our family as it does here in America, the only difference is it takes us a 12 hour round trip to get it. Gas is about $5-6 a gallon on average. $1 given to us each month is the same in U.S dollars for you, but changes based on how the shilling vs. dollar is doing. For example- Gas may cost us $5 a gallon one month and $7 a gallon the next, all while staying the same amount in shillings. Like cereal? When it is available a box of fruity pebbles can cost around $8 a box!!! Coffee lovers, like creamer? Flavored creamer is $10 for a small container. (Glad I don’t like coffee, but my wife loves it). Our mission does not financially support us; they have to raise their own support just as we do. Starting this year they had to start taking 5% of our funds. How to support the Sawyer’s Ministry. If by check: make check payable to Masters mission with note attached saying for Travis and Laura Sawyer. You can now donate by PayPal. Just go to our blog (www.thesawyerscoop.blogspot.com) and click on donate online. There are several ways to donate.

3. Communication, Either by letter, email, Skype, chat or taking a plane trip to Kenya. When we are in the bush we always enjoy letters or emails. They just make you feel like you are still a part of people’s lives back home as well. There are days when we receive an email that no amount of money could replace. We have people that come visit us that I would not take a dollar amount to replace their visit. It is a huge encouragement to us when we hear from or see folks that come to visit us in Kenya.
I encourage all of you who are reading this newsletter to ask yourselves “How am I involved in Christ Command in Matthew 28?” not just my church but me as an individual as well.

It has been a good year for us. It has been forever long but seems to be leaving quickly now with less than 4 weeks left. We have traveled over 30,000 miles and slept in many different beds. Last night as we were back home at my Dads house, Savannah our 3 year old woke up in the middle of the night and Laura heard her in the kitchen saying “where am I?” The kids have been amazing this year, they are real troopers. They are excited to get back as well which thrills our souls. We don’t want to be the missionaries that drag our kids along because it is what the Lord has called us to do, but rather it is our whole family that is actively involved in the work.

We have been healthy all year which is a change for us. Seems we always have some weird something going on in Kenya, but we did not escape America without getting colds. I think at the moment my whole family has a nasty cough.
Please continue to pray for the work in Kenya. We ask that you would pray for the Lord to bring more souls to Himself. There is no greater thing in this world than to see people coming to their Lord and Savior for the first time.
We are also taking a 40 foot container back as we did the first time around. This time though we don’t have but a small percentage of stuff on it, the rest belongs to all of our other families in the Kenya field. I would ask that you keep them in your prayers as well. Pick a family and pray for them once a week. Here are their names: Hind’s, Richardson’s, Heidorn’s, Teasdale’s, Woodworth’s, Russell’s and Johnson’s. The last 2 families are on the same station with us so remember them especially as they have to put up with me all the time
We love you all and thank you for your continued support during these hard economic times as well as your prayers for myself and my family.
In Christ,
Travis, for the Sawyer clan

Some more pics of our road trip

2010-09-07T02:58:00.002+03:00

We made it home today around 4:30 p.m after 10 States 42 hours in the car and 2200 miles. It was a great time with friends and family but it was also a very tiring trip. we are thankful to be home and have 3 days of rest until the next adventure. Here are some more pics from our trip.

Travis speaking at a church in PA.Nana bought a Kenya looking shirt just for the occasion!Anybody from the South ever heard of this stuff?? It was a new one to me. What are great uncles for right? Thanks Uncle Lou for the 2 pocket fulls of chocolates you stuffed into Savannah's pockets.If anyone knows Travis they would know this is a rare if not priceless picture. Notice what he holdeth in his hand. It must have been a long trip:)

Our time in Pennsylvania

2010-09-05T03:03:00.002+03:00

Nana trying to get Sarah to set on her lap. Our meal at Country fair restaurant with Nana, Aunt Louise and Uncle Stan.

Some of the stops along the way

2010-09-03T04:33:00.003+03:00

Lake Michigan!!!

Cabelas

Proverbs 3:5-6

2010-08-27T17:57:00.002+03:00

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."

We headed out yesterday for our big trip up north. We were all packed and ready, juice boxes, granola bars, coloring books, blankets and 6 bags. Everything went so smoothly as we left out yesterday morning. We headed across 129 the Dragon, the road between NC and TN, something like 311 curves in 11 miles! The girls dread it because it makes them so sick. As we neared the end we told the girls that they had made it and that they would not have to go across it again on our trip! They were so excited! And then...about 2 hours into our trip we saw it...the oil leak! It wasn't just a small drip, it was a few fast drips. We hope to push through it and make it to our first stop, but as we were driving down 75N smoke started coming out the back really bad. At that point we pulled over and watched as oil was dripping ever so fast out on the side of the highway. Travis called it and said it would be better and safer for us to turn around and head back home so he could work on the van.
But that meant....we would have to cross the Dragon again! Thankfully the girls did so much better the second time around.
Today Travis is working on the van in hopes that it will be ready to push out again on Sunday so that we can at lest complete half of our planned trip up north.
Please continue to pray for us. We trust daily in Gods faithfulness and know that all things are in His almighty hands.

One of our videos from 2008

2010-08-25T18:29:00.002+03:00

We are home

2010-04-22T18:07:00.002+03:00

We finally made it home. We have been home now for about 3 weeks and have been busy as ever. Lots of speaking, driving and of course eating! Our flight home was LONG!!! it was definitely an endurance test but the kids did well. Sarah at one point started sleep walking and tried to open the hatch door on the plane and while in London the escalator tried to eat Summer, other than that it was pretty much uneventful:) We arrived at Heathrow and it was sleeting outside. We had rented a room at a lodge right outside Heathrow and ended up walking 3 blocks in the cold rain. That was a shock to leave sunny and 85 to that. We are here now though and are enjoying seeing many of you and fellowshipping. If you want to get on the calender that is quickly filling up just let us know. tmmsawyer@gmail.com

Countdown!!

2010-03-26T08:32:00.003+03:00

It is the final countdown for us leaving Kenya. We have been in Nairobi since Tuesday, finishing paperwork and different things. I will head back to Maasai Tomorrow (Saturday) to pack the truck in the shop as well as the tractor and everything else I can get inside. I will attend church Sunday for my last church service and then will ride back to Nairobi with the Johnson's after the service. We are growing more and more excited to get home and visit with everyone. We fly out Monday (29th) night at 11:00. Hopefully we will be landing in Atlanta around 7 p.m Tuesday night.

Tigas

2010-02-25T17:24:00.003+03:00

As if my day was not awesome enough already. After lunch we went to the river to get another load of sand. As we were loading the sand I ask Macon if he had told his wife the good thing he had done. He said she was not at home for lunch, at this point the man who we were buying the sand from said " what good thing is he talking about?" So I told Paul to start and I would finish and after a little over an hour Tigis prayed to receive Christ as his Savior. Pray these men are serious and that they will stand firm and make a difference in the community.

Macon

2010-02-25T12:29:00.002+03:00

This morning (Feb.25th )God did yet another amazing thing. We met for devotions at the church as normal and Macon (Pictured below) has not worked the last week because his little girl is sick. As he was leaving I asked him if he would want to work with me today, because we were getting sand and I could use another body. After getting sand all of us were in the truck and I asked Paul ( a younger Masai guy) if he would share Christ with Macon. he said yes and Bernard and I sat quietly up front as we drove back. After about 15 minutes I started in on some different issues regarding salvation. Macon said he was planning on coming up front Sunday at church. I went on to explain that today is Thursday and Sunday is 3 days away. I ask him if a bundle of money was laying in front of him, would he wait 3 days to get it? I explained Christ surpasses all riches and He is Here right now. Macon said he was ready to accept Christ in his heart. With tear filled eyes he bowed his head in the back seat of my truck and prayed to receive Christ. In the end I asked Macon why he has waited so long, after being around the mission for years. He said he was not wanting to just make a decision and walk away from it tomorrow. He said he is uneducated and wanted to learn more. He said he has been paying a lot more attention the past few months in church and now he understands he said. His one prayer request from me is to pray he can stand firm. I am also encouraging all of you fellow believers to pray this for him as well. He is the first man in our church to take this stand publicly. Sunday he will come up front and do it publicly. Bernard, Macon, Paul, and Me

Happy Birthday Summer Brook!

2010-02-20T16:35:00.004+03:00

Summer turned 6 on the 18th! 6, how can she be 6? Amazing how time flies. She was 2 years old when we first came to Kenya. She was been a good little missionary kid over the years. She is very adventurous and moves around here like a little monkey. She enjoys feeding our chickens and collecting eggs. She is very good at herding the cows around as well. Recently I think her favorite thing to do is swing on the swing set her daddy and granddad built for her and her sisters. Summer is a blessing to us!

What would you think?

2010-01-30T07:58:00.004+03:00

I received a call at 9:30 pm Saturday night from a close Friend who is also one of my workers. His voice was very panicky and he says to me "Travis my little girl is dying, please help!" Well about this time I had all kinds of thoughts running through my mind. Where do we go, what do we do? The nearest hospital is over 3 hours away. The roads are very dangerous to travel lately due to robbers, especially at night. I told him I would be down to his house in a minute. As I arrived she was at their neighbors house which is also a "want to be" clinic. Chepkurui ( the little girl 3 1/2 years old) was in an arched position neck back completely locked. She was convulsing now and then and acting like she was swallowing her tongue. At this point I was on the phone with missionary doctors at the hospital that was over 3 hours away. One of the doctors walked me through some different things and said "Travis she needs real medical attention" At this point we took her to a near by lodge doctor. The conclusion was Meningitis. That night I saw a little child doing things that we "normal" people should not see small children do. I just sat there watching Bernard hold his little girl thinking , "what if that was me holding one of my little girls". I thought we had lost her several different times sitting in the doctors office at the lodge. Her eyes would roll back in her head and she would just go limp. All I could think was "what will I say to Bernard?" The doctor gave her a shot ( Which here will supposedly fix anything) and we went on our way. He told us come back in the morning for another. I was just praying she would make it through the night. The next morning (Sunday) we went back and he gave her another shot. I ask Bernard to leave and I wanted to talk to the doctor privately. I said" Doc is this little girl going to die? what do I need to do?" He said "you need to get her to a hospital and fast" we headed out at this point to Kijabe which was over 3 hours away. We arrived and saw the doctors. They had to do blood tests and a spinal tap(that took 3 attempts) I was glad to be there for Bernard, during the spinal tap I think he was in as much pain as his daughter. All said it turns out it was Cerebral malaria. This is very deadly and had we delayed she would have for sure died. They arrived back here yesterday ( Friday) and she was walking , smiling and greeting me in her tribal tongue (Kalenjin). It was a first for me for sure. Who would you call if you were in America and this had happened? Not my neighbor, but 911 or rushed to the nearby medical help. It made me realize we are depended upon heavily for things like this here, it scares me to death to think about this. In my mind I have thought, "what if we had just delayed to see if she got better from the shot, or what if I had not really wanted to go to the hospital?" We often joke out here about being 911 , the ambulance and all the above, I can tell you now from experience, it is no joke.

Happy Birthday Sarah B!!!

2010-01-05T08:26:00.002+03:00

Our Sarah B who was 4 when we came to Kenya is now 8!!! Wow, where does time go?

New years games!!!

2010-01-01T14:31:00.002+03:00

New years games was a blast this year. Lots of participants and lots of on-lookers.

Rungu throwing

It looked like so much fun, I thought I would even try some spear throwing

A Christmas blessing

2009-12-25T16:24:00.002+03:00

Today we had a Christmas service at our church and had 143 kids show up and 48 adults. We thought this was a huge blessing as Christmas service is normally the lowest service all year.
You may look at these pictures and think, how is this a Christmas blessing. Well we have been in a drought for a while now and lots of animals have died due to starvation. So the Lord has blessed the Maasai community this Christmas with rain.

This is the place we normally cross with the 4 wheelers, it is rolling through here about 6 feet deep!

Teacher Dorm

2009-11-04T13:56:00.002+03:00

So We have been able to go from this:

To this in just under 3 weeks!! It is very exiting to see everything going up and see the excitement of the teachers. It is a very well built building and should give years of service.

Teachers House

2009-10-23T06:14:00.002+03:00

Here are some pictures of the new teachers dorm we are building. Currently the teachers are staying at the near by county council housing and have been asked to try and find other means of housing. This will be 2 totally separate rooms and will house 2 teachers. I was asked by the headmaster yesterday if I could build another one before leaving in March for our 1 year furlough. I was hoping to have at least a week of strees freeness before leaving but we will see what happens. The Lord is good in giving us this opportunity to help out down at the school and be involved in the community in this way.

What is A Travis???

2009-10-08T19:25:00.002+03:00

As I was walking through one of the boma's yesterday with one of my friends I hear one of the kids from behind us say "that is a Travis" and he was pointing at me. My friend and I looked at each other and laughed and the kid said it again "that is a Travis" apparently he was telling one of his friends what a Travis was.

Our girls

2009-09-25T15:52:00.003+03:00

It has been a while since I have written on our blog. I have been quite busy with my girls. Skylar, our baby, is growing like a weed. Already two months and smiling at us! Oh how sweet. Savannah is pretty much the center of attention with all her energy. She keeps us busy! Summer just started Kindergarden and is loving it. She also lost her 1st tooth. Sarah is in the 2nd grade now and also a big help around here. I stay pretty busy helping my girls and Travis through out the day! God is good and I am so thankful for my family!

Mbiten School

2009-09-12T09:10:00.002+03:00

The other day Shayne and I had a meeting with what we thought was going to be the elders of the community that Mbiten school is in. This is the place where we hope to put a spring box in to help supply the school and community with water. Right now they have to walk through the bush almost 1 mile to get water. As we arrived we quickly saw it was more than just the elders it was about 50 people, men women and children. To my surprise the picture below was of them starting the meeting by wanting to pray!!! During these meetings most of the time every man gets a chance to stand up and say his part. There were only a couple in this one that stood up. Shayne as well as myself stood up and shared about what we would like to see happen with the water, they were all very much in agreement and happy. At one point I leaned over and asked Shayne " Do you ever just look around and think, here we sit out in the middle of a huge field in the scorching sun listening to a people that we cant even understand?" We both laughed and were happy we can help.

Some of the young children making the long hike to gather water.
This is a spring box done by one of the NGO's about 2 miles away from where we hope to do one for the school. This one does not work because of poor construction. It was full of frogs and snake skins as the water just runs underneath it.

Water at the gate!!!

2009-08-27T17:16:00.002+03:00

Today was a very fun day for me. We were able to take the overflow of the school tank and pipe it into a smaller tank to supply to the community. The water has just been continually running on the ground and we are in a drought. Pretty sad to watch all that good water go to waste. The people were not telling me they love me , but were saying they know that I love them for helping do this.

It was hot, we had to have a little fun to.

The overflow being hooked up to the small tank for the community, it was very slick up there, God was gracious.

8 hour 55 mile 4-wheeler ride

2009-08-12T19:16:00.004+03:00

We went out yesterday on what was supposed to be a quick visit to Olesere a village 16 miles away. We ended up taking one of the guys there to show us 2 schools several miles beyond Olesere. We were able to see the schools and the water sources for each one. the first picture below is one of 2 buildings that close to 100 children go to school. Kindergarten and 1st grade. each building was about 15x25. The nearest water source was 3/4 of a mile away. The other pictures are of a school that schools 470 kids 1st -8th grade and the nearest water source was about a mile and a half away. We had a wonderful trip despite the fact we missed lunch. Lunch seems like a small thing in comparison to carrying water to survive from a mile away. It was great to get out and meet other folks and see the needs that are out there.Mbiten school 23 miles from our houseOne water source at Mbiten schoolEdonia Erinka school 28 miles from our house

Praise God!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-08-09T13:24:00.003+03:00

I just wanted to tell you all that this morning we had a lady come up in front of the church and say she wanted to be saved!! As I started playing the benediction song I saw this woman come up immediately. I almost could not play it shocked me so much and I was so excited. As Shayne explained the Gospel to her more in depth at the end I could only stand there with tears in my eyes. Sometimes we wonder why we are even here after years of seeing no salivations and after today it all is very well worth it. It is a great reminder that salvation belongs to God and no amount of persuasion or saying the right thing can ever save a persons soul only God is the One who can do that. Her name is Melua Mary Koshal. She has 5 children and is 32 years old. She said she was lost and has heard several different things about God in the past but after hearing today she wanted to be saved. Please keep her in your prayers as the hard road is ahead in her culture. She has already went very much against that grain by even coming forth in a public setting. I will try to get a picture later this week. Rejoice with us this day.

Vitamin C overdose

2009-08-06T08:44:00.002+03:00

Our fellow Missionaries were just in re-supplying for the month and we sent them with a list for us as well. Normally you just hand your list in and the store puts your list together. I had written on there 30 oranges and somehow they translated that into 30kg!! That is 66lbs of oranges we now have. Looks like we will get plenty of vitamin C this month. That is if they survive Savannah.

Happy 32nd Birthday Laura

2009-08-04T13:53:00.002+03:00

Happy birthday to my amazing wife who is an amazing woman and an awesome mom. You are the best.Check out the cake, Sarah and Summer made it by themselves.

Updated fuel store pics

2009-08-03T19:53:00.002+03:00

Just so you know Sarah B took most of these pictures.

Hello

2009-08-01T08:07:00.004+03:00

Sorry for the long delay in posting. Ever since we have returned we have been just flooded with things. Laura as you can imagine has had her hands very full. Fortunately one of our missionary friends from Kijabe was able to come for a week and help, she has been such a blessing. I have returned to trying to finish up projects at the school, here at home, teaching devotions every morning leading music and this weekend Shayne will be taking guests back to the airport so add preaching Sunday into my list of things. It is all good though and we are very thankful the Lord is able to use us in any way He seems fit. The headmaster approached me again the other day and apparently has received money to build a teachers house that will house 2 teachers. So I will probably start on that as soon as we can get the other stuff finished at the school. He is hoping to start in the next couple weeks. I will post pictures of project things soon. Thank you for your prayers.

Skylar Bliss

2009-07-14T13:17:00.003+03:00

Hello World my name is Skylar Bliss Sawyer I came into the world at 10:30am Kenya time. I weighed in at 7lbs 6oz and I was 19 inches long. I cant wait to meet all of you one day.

Locked out!!

2009-07-13T17:26:00.003+03:00

Today started as an awesome day. I had yearly vehicle inspection that can and has taken up to 4-5 hours, but today I had an ace in my hand, a pregnant wife who will have a baby in less than 2 days, a sleeping baby in the back seat and 2 other small girls. So I pulled out everything I had and it worked. In under 30 minutes we were finished! It was record time. So we were feeling really good about ourselves and went to the store to get some food and as the door swung shut I reached to my pocket to feel for my keys and yep they were in the truck. Laura looked at me in panic saying we have to figure something out quick. It would have only been worse if her water had broken at about that time. I said go on in get some food I got this. First of all you should know that metal clothes hangers are rare here, in fact I have never seen one to purchase So I had to buy a whole roll of fencing wire, and then had to strand 3 pieces together to get it stiff. 2 hours later I was still there. The lock button for some reason had decided not to work. Finally one of the 6 guys who thouht they were helping got lucky and caught the lock lever and pulled it open. Needless to say we were very relieved and happy to be in our truck again. Some of you might say "don't you have spare keys?" Well of course I do, I keep them in the glove box:)

Happy Birthday Travis!!

2009-07-07T19:37:00.004+03:00

That's right, Travis turned 29 today!! He is getting old. We had a lovely day and took him to the movies to watch Ice age 3. Sarah and Summer drew pictures for their dad and Sarah made the banner hanging behind him.

Happy Birthday Daddy.

Skyscraper!

2009-07-01T18:19:00.006+03:00

From the looks of our fuel/guard house / guest room you would think we were building a skyscraper. The roof will be another 7 to 8 feet higher at the peak. It has an awesome view of the Maasai Mara that is for sure. We will going back to the school to finish up some projects then we will be able to resume on this building and get it finished up. We head to Nairobi to await the arrival of our new little one Skylar _____ Sawyer on the 9th!!! Pray everything goes well.

Life Lessons

2009-06-26T16:26:00.002+03:00

Today the kids helped Travis get the supplies together for a bunny house for Bugz. They were so cute as they watched with excitement for the finished product. As Travis was putting on the final touches I went to get Bugz to give him some water. It was then that I realized that something was wrong with him. He wasn't moving right and he seemed to be getting weak. Unfortunately Bugz died a few hours later. Needless to say it has been a teary eyed day for some little girls around here. We did realize that Bunnies are a

very fun pet to have around. I think that the little guy was just to young to be without his mom.

What's up Doc?

2009-06-23T11:38:00.002+03:00

Meet our new family pet. This is Bugz our new baby rabbit. He was found today in our yard and looks to be only a few weeks old. So we have taken him in and the girls are now the mommy of Bugz bunny. As you can see they are VERY excited about their new job. We hope he enjoys his new home and mommies!

I DON"T THINK SO!!!!

2009-06-17T20:51:00.003+03:00

Savannah was more than willing to get on the back of this camel. Yeah right Savannah, not with mama right there!

Our trip to Mombassa

2009-06-17T20:37:00.002+03:00

We had such a nice time in Mombassa this past week at our Annual TMM conference. It was a great time for family, fun and fellowship. The girls enjoyed their time in the pool with their friends. Travis and I enjoyed sitting back and relaxing while watching the girls in the pool or on the beach. Travis also enjoyed volleyball each day, and I enjoyed walking down to the beach and talking with a Mama there who sells shukas (wraps) to us ladies. Evening time was a lot of fun visiting with our friends and breathing in the night air.

I enjoyed watching the girls on the beach.

Sarah had so much fun on the slide and is swimming quite well these days.

Summer really had fun collecting shells on the beach. Although most of them still had life in them so she was unable to bring them home.

Savannah loved playing in the sand on the beach, but she did not like the ocean. She would much rather be riding on the camel that keeps passing by.

Our time in Mombassa was a blessing to us. It was a great time of rest and relaxation. On the way home we did hit a donkey with our truck. It did a lot of damage to the side of our truck. Thankfully Travis has been able to repair most of it on his own. God is good!

Progress on the fuel store

2009-05-21T21:11:00.002+03:00

Travis and the guys put up the web trusses yesterday.

Travis and Bernard very happy that this part is all over. Now onto the next step.

They will hopefully pour the roof ,which is also the second story guest/guard room, on Monday.

Update.

2009-05-15T06:32:00.003+03:00

The pictures are of the much needed fuel/cement/stuff/guard house. After the robbery and all the things were stolen we figured it was time to get the guard in his own place as well as some of our tools and things that are just hanging outside because of lack of space. This is Bernard's first project of this size He is doing an awesome job. We have had a couple mistakes here and there but that is what learning is all about. This will be a double decker so the guard and any guests that want privacy can have a place to stay.

The other great news is that I will be building a garden for the school starting in a week or so. So it seems I will be stretched thin. There is some donors that want to help the school with a vegetable garden and want me to build the stone boxes to put the veggies in. It will start with 8 stone boxes 8'x16'. There will be 20 people coming from the States to help plant the seeds and teach the staff and students about gardening. That will be on June 16th-17th. The fun thing is that we head to conference in 2 weeks and we will come back just one day before they arrive. So we have to get a roof on this fuel store which will be a concrete slab, and build 8 stone garden boxes in a month and 2 of those weeks I wont be here. Bernard knows what he is doing so pray for him in the next month if you would he will have a lot on him. Besides this ministry is really going well. The church is growing, the music is fun. Laura will be starting a series on child raising during the Tuesday womens bible study. In morning devotions we are going through the different men's lives of Heb.11. Sunday Shayne will start preaching through Creation in the book of Genesis so we look forward to that. The book of Genesis is the foundation for everything. Have you ever thought about how much we would not know without the book of Genesis?

The Battle belongs the LORD!

2009-05-07T10:06:00.004+03:00

There are times in life where all seems well, you are walking in green pastures and you are resting by the gentle waters. You feel like you are on the mountain top with your God. Then there are times when you feel you are walking in the valley of the shadow of death. The flaming arrows of our enemy Satan are flung by and trying to hit you at every angle. What do we do as Christians at that point in life? Do we just fall to the ground in defeat? No! We put up our Shield of Faith and we take out our Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and we fight back. No weapons fashioned against us will stand, because the victory is the Lords! Who can stand against our God?

Life has been crazy for us here, with different flaming arrows soaring by us. But we will not let it tear us down. God has given us what we need to carry on and to proclaim His Word of truth.

People have been coming to church and hearing Gods Word proclaimed as Shayne Russell (fellow missionary) has been bringing out the truth of God’s salvation. We have had around 50 adults there weekly, plus children, and people participating in leading music and performing skits to help with the message. We had 4 kids say their Bible verse from VBS, all of Ephesians 6:10-17, in front of the Church. Two youth from the Church helped teach at VBS and did a great job bringing out God’s truth.

Travis has been faithfully teaching daily morning devotions to around 15 people. He has brought out question's for them to think about, like “What is the most important question in life?”, “Who is number one in your life?”, “What is your number one fear?”. He has brought these questions out and people have been answering them honestly and then Travis has been showing them in God’s word the answers. I had a women tell me the other day that what has been taught has been a real encouragement to her and this is what they need to hear.

Tari Russell started teaching this past Sunday in children’s Sunday school the doctrine of God. She challenged them to read the Bible daily and to memorize a portion of Scripture for each week. She has already had one boy come up to her house earlier this week and tell her the memory verse. He took the challenge and he did it.

I have been teaching the ladies Bible study and just finished up a series on the unborn child. I showed pictures of the baby in the womb and taught on the development of the baby over the 9 month period. I used this as a platform to teach how life is in God’s Hands, how He has breathed life into each of us and He alone knows the number of the days of your life, so what will you do with your life?

When flaming arrows are coming your way, don’t fall down in defeat, pick up your Shield of Faith and your Sword of the Spirit and fight back, because the Battle Belongs to the Lord!

Tornado in Sekenani?

2009-05-06T14:04:00.002+03:00

By looking at it you would think that we had a tornado come through our road last night, turns out it was just some hungry elephants. This is the worst I have ever seen it, normally it is just a tree here or there or some branches.

Sometimes I think we forget we live in The Maasai Mara. Our hill does not just belong to us but every animal here.

2009-04-27T17:25:00.002+03:00

Sometimes we need a little humor to lift the spirit!! I hope you enjoy this as much as we did.

Prayer Request

2009-04-24T15:54:00.002+03:00

On Wednesday we went into Nairobi for an ultrasound to check on the health of the baby. My Doctor still had some concerns about what looked like extra fluid on the brain. We were told that I would need to go home if there was a problem with the baby. So we made flight arrangements just in case. Thankfully and to God's praise all looked well with the ultra sound. Our sweet little baby girl is just fine in her little home
While we were gone on our over night trip our guard and faithful worker for the past 2 years decide he would take the opportunity to rob us. So he and we are not sure who else stole most every thing of value in our house. Including, computers (3 laptops and 1 desktop; 1 laptop was the Johnson's and 1 was a gift I received), printer, camera, generator, tools, radio, pressure washer, the safe with a lot of cash in it, including money of the Johnson's for things here while they are on furlough. We have been very surprised and hurt with all this, but we are trusting in the Lord with every detail. We serve an Awesome God, worthy or praise!
Please pray for wisdom at this time as Travis pursues all this. Pray for protection as Travis is traveling right now with some others concerning this matter. Pray for the guy who did this that he will come to repentance and that we would be able to recover some of the stolen items.
We can't take "stuff" with us to heaven, so we don't hold on to it all closely, but we would like to see justice prevail.
May God be praised in all this!

Water tank update.

2009-04-18T14:26:00.002+03:00

It looks like it would make a great prison. We have 3 of the exterior walls up and decided to tie all that steel before building the fourth wall. After the fourth wall goes up we will pour the inside walls. They are 6 inches of solid concrete , and as you can see they will have lots of steel in them. You would not think that it was 15,000 lbs of water would you? So better to put the steel in than be sorry later. The outside is some of our local stone here that the guys dig right out of the ground.

Easter Pics!

2009-04-12T09:15:00.003+03:00

On the first day of the week the two Mary's went to the tomb and as they arrived they saw Jesus body was gone! Suddenly two men stood before them and said soem of the most glorious words a Christian can hear " why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here He has risen." That is the hope of Christians. Rejoice fellow brothers and sisters because the grave could not hold our king!!!

Rejoice for He is alive today!!

All in a day's work

2009-04-09T19:37:00.002+03:00

Here was our work today. We got the slab poured as you can see. The inner ring is the actual tank size. The walls will be 1 foot thick!! The guys did an awesome job today and God blessed us by holding off the rain until the concrete was hard, what a perfect day to pour concrete.

Water tank construction!!!

2009-04-07T20:00:00.002+03:00

This is the old water tanks that we are still using. As you may notice the clumps on both water tanks, well lets just say they are not a part of the tanks. That's right , baboon poop!!Here is our new tank site with the plumbing in and forms up. This is where we got to today. There is so much steel in this thing , it is amazing. The inner frame will be removed shortly after the pour to serve as a key. This will allow the poured concrete walls to seal into the slab, hopefully sealing any area that could possibly leak. I will put more pictures up as there is more progress. Hopefully this will be all concrete by Thursday.

Update on the playhouse

2009-04-04T15:45:00.002+03:00

As you can see the playhouse has come up pretty good. Although I am not happy with the speed of things, the kids are tickled. There have been many things that have taken my time from the playhouse. One of those things came as I was watching baboons teaching there kids how to high dive into our fresh water drinking tanks. Some of you may have known that we were very sick last month and now I think I know why. So I have put a hold on all projects and have started a stone sealable water tank. I hope we will be using it by the first of may. We brought 10 gal. of water back from Nairobi this trip to drink. It cost us $40!! The funny thing is I guess we did not know how much water we drank each day. We have consumed the first 5 gal. in less that 2 days!
Check out the awesome sandbox underneath. Sand to come this week.

This is another project we have started. It is a fuel/cement store. We will be able to get our gas drums away from the side of our house and into a safe lockable building , as well as keeping our cement out of the rain. This project has been put on hold as well until the water tank is built.

Awesome.

2009-03-15T12:28:00.002+03:00

Starting Friday night around 10 pm something I started to get really sick. I was up all night doing what sick people do. About an hour after I started Laura started as well. She was feeling better about 8 am the next morning but I was still going at 10am. I would say it was the sickest I have ever been besides having malaria for 4 days. Laura and I both were laid up in bed the entire day on Saturday. Thankfully our friends (Pat and Kathi) were here to watch the kids. Still feeling pretty bad I called one of our faithful Masai guys in church to preach for me today. Pat was going to play music but he woke up doing what sick people do as well.
The awesome thing was that I had made my way to shower because I was becoming pretty stinky and as I was getting out Laura told me that I had a bunch of people at the gate that was wanting to pray with me. I was thinking she must be starting to hallucinate or something. Sure enough I walked outside and there were 15 youth and 8 men from church that just wanted to come and pray for us with our sickness. One of the men is a man who comes to my Wed. night Bible study and I have been inviting him to church for a long time and he decided to come today. He is the one that lead the prayer for us. God is awesome and you never know who He is allowing you to affect. Below is a picture of the folks who came to pray.

Play House

2009-03-15T09:37:00.003+03:00

This week has been full with building the girls playhouse. Tuesday we were able to pour the second slab. This will be the floor to the actual play house and the roof of the most awesome sandbox in Kenya. You might even see pictures one day of me playing in here. Everybody comes out for the pours. Even Sarah gets the day off from school on pour days. I think her mind would be out pouring concrete anyway if she was having to do school.

I know Savannah can't wait to get her hands on some sand in the sandbox.
Summer and Samson anxiously awaiting the finish of the pour.

The finshed product, now just have to start building on it.

Were it is as of Friday evening. 2 walls done and 2 pillars with posts to hold the trusses. Hopefully by Tuesday we will just be waiting on the trusses and tin to go up.

Random pictures of the girls

2009-03-01T19:00:00.003+03:00

Savannah LOVES her new Kenyan baby she got from Almi. She has been taking very good care of her. She is getting ready for her little sister to come. I just hope she doesn't poke her baby sister's eyes and carry her around by her neck.

It's a...

2009-02-27T13:18:00.002+03:00

On Wednesday we headed into Nairobi, but first stopped at Kijabe for my prenatal check up. We were very happy to get an ultra sound and possibly find out what the baby is. But as the ultra sound went on it seemed that something might be wrong with the baby. My Doctor suggested for us to go to Nairobi Hospital to have another ultra sound done with a better machine since theirs is so old. So we rushed on to the Hospital praying the whole way that what the tech saw was not real. We got to the Hospital and the ultra sound tech there started looking right away at the babies brain to make sure that the fluid was the same on both sides. We were relieved to hear him say that all is well and that the baby looks wonderful and healthy! Praise the Lord. As we were looking at are beautiful baby in the womb he then said, "It's a girl!" You can imagine our shock at first thinking that for sure this one would be a boy. It was quite funny when I look back on it. But, we are so happy to have a healthy baby girl growing inside of me. God is awesome and worthy to be praised. And we are so thankful for the health of our now 4 girls!!

Sunday service.

2009-02-22T12:56:00.002+03:00

I was exited to see so many folks turn up at church today. We had 50 adults and around 45 kids and youth! I was preaching on the first 2 pieces of armor God gives us in Ephesians 6. It was really awesome to close with 1 Pet.5:8 on how Satan roams about like a roaring lion seeking who he may devour. Especially those who don't have there armor on. It was cool because that verse just seems so much more understandable here. These folks know the feeling of walking home at night and wondering if a lion is in the bushes. They get to see on a regular basis lion's devouring prey. So it was neat to see faces light up when I said that is what Satan wants to do to us. Continue to pray for us as we do the last 4 pieces of armor when we come back from Nairobi Sunday after next.

All Alone.

2009-02-21T16:04:00.004+03:00

We are all alone out here now. Johnsons left Thursday for Nairobi to finish up some things there before going back state side. It truly is a plate full being alone. Morning devotions with the workers, wednesday Bible study with the guys and Sunday morning music and preaching. Not to mention the everyday grind of people coming for something, wheteher it be medical or something else. Running out of water etc... I even had 25 youth from school come up before devotions on thursday. They said someone had stolen 3 of the 8 solar panels that are pumping the schools water. So I went down to see how I could help. Below is a picture of morning devotions on our front slab.

Happy Birthday Summer Brook!

2009-02-18T16:41:00.004+03:00

Today is Summer's 5th Birthday. Travis woke up to her coming in the room and saying "Daddy I'm 5!" Then a minute later she said to me "But why are my feet still this size?" She thought when she woke up she would be so much bigger. Summer is a sweet girl and usually has something funny to say. She always has a smile for you and a hug if you are feeling down. We have been blessed with our 3 girls. We are thankful for each one of them and the gifts they bring to our family.

Here is Summer enjoying her gifts from the family this morning. She says thank you to every one!

Summer is a big helper around the house and with projects going on.

Summer is always making us laugh!

New Puppy!!

2009-02-06T07:30:00.003+03:00

We have been in Nairobi all week. We have been very busy as well as having to say a very sad goodbye to my dad who had been here for 5 1/2 weeks. He was a lot of help as he usually is and we got a lot accomplished as we usually do. Thanks dad. We were also able to get a new puppy. You may remember our first 2 dogs were bitten by the tetsie fly and died of a disease called Tripp's. We now have 2 pups Samson 6 months old and in the picture is Sandy 2 months old. She looks little now but in about 6 months she will weigh roughly 80-90lbs and before she is done could reach 140-150lbs.

The puppy has had no problems getting attention from the girls.

Want a blessing?

2009-02-01T07:57:00.002+03:00

In the Maasai culture young children come up to the older folks and lower there head as a sign of respect. The older person will then touch the child on the top of the head and the kid goes on. This also happens to us. All the small children that come in to Sunday School gets there head touched. Savannah has been observing this and has decided if Daddy and Mommy is doing it she must supposed to be doing it as well.

The kids get a big kick out of Savannah doing this.

Please pray for Savannah we have started her on Malaria medication yesterday. She had a fever of 102.7 and was just grumpy all day. We called the doctors and they said to start her on the meds.

Bible Study!

2009-01-31T12:23:00.003+03:00

This week I was able to start my Men's Bible study up again. We are now meeting in Bernard's house. We started back with just some basic words in the Bible and what they mean , such as Faith. It may look pretty lite inside but it was not , you can see the one man holding a flashlight as we read. It rained so hard at one point I could not even hear the guitar and I was playing it. It was a lot of fun and it is exiting for me to see the guys exited about it. One of the men made a statement I thought was nice during the Bible study. He said" Why is it that we would feed our bodies food and not feed our minds with the Word of God" It was sweet I must say.

Wine anyone?

2009-01-25T12:37:00.006+03:00

You just thought Laura was sweet and innocent. Here she is serving wine in Sunday school! All kidding aside it was pretty cool this morning as Laura shared the first miracle that Jesus did in John 2 with the kids. Check out the video below to see how Laura turned water into wine. The kids faces were priceless. Dont worry it was just some water and food coloring but she will never tell her secret of how she did it. Stay tuned each week as Laura goes through the miracles of Jesus on Sunday mornings with the kids.

School

2009-01-20T15:31:00.002+03:00

Hello Everyone. Sorry for the long time in between the posts. My dad has been here and he is working me to death. We have got a lot accomplished so I am happy. Currently we have a situation in Kenya with school teachers. They are on strike! our school here in Sekenani was dismissed today because of no teachers. They are asking for 3,600 Kenya shillings more per month per teacher. That is about $50. So we will sit back and see what happens , but after being out of school for almost 6 weeks now they are out again. I bet there are some American kids that wish there teachers would strike. The problem is that when there is something you don't like you just strike. What is this teaching the younger generation? I heard on the radio that the minister of education told all headmasters to keep a list of the teachers that came and the ones that did not. He said that there were plenty of people out there that would gladly take there place. Pray with us about this situation.

New Years Games!!

2009-01-04T08:16:00.004+03:00

On your get set-GO!!!!!! This was the first event of our first ever New years games. We had a long distance race. It was about a half a mile long.

Spear throwing!

The winner threw the spear 46 Meters! That's 151 feet!

The Rungu throw. The same guy that won the spear throw , won the Rungu throw. He won from 25 feet. To win he hit a 4 inch square target on his first throw! Hope I never make him mad:)

The games were for the adults of the community, but the kids made great spear retrievers.

Yes this is me holding another mans hand. It may seem odd to some and to be honest still seems odd to me. Here in Kenya it is a sign of friendship. It is not hard to see 2 guys walking down the road holding hands. I had just gave this guy his second place prize a blanket. The prizes were 1st place a Maasai knife second place a blanket and third place some phone card minutes.

What are neighbors for?

2008-12-24T11:13:00.009+03:00

On Sunday evening around 3 p.m I hear my neighbor and fellow missionary start yelling my name from his yard. Well when you live in the Maasai Mara and someone is yelling it can only mean a couple things. By the time I had jumped on the 4-wheeler his oldest daughter was at my gate. she said "dad has a green mamba by the tail and needs your help". Any logical thinking person would have said "yeah tell him I will be over in about an hour" but I was thinking, Green mamba, Possibility of getting snake bit and dying, count me in. When I got there Jon had a piece of 2" flat bar holding this nearly 6 feet mamba down.Well I took over the flat bar so Jon could torcher it by taking a couple hundred pictures. It was in between some tires right next to Jons house. Jon was very fortunate to get the hold with the flat bar that he did. The birds kept flying in to peck him when they could. It was like they knew we were on the same side and did not care we were standing right there.

This bad boy was 5'-4" long.

As you can see it all turned out well and no one was killed. Remember kids this was done by trained professionals never try this at home:)

Almost Christmas!

2008-12-20T08:13:00.003+03:00

This past week we put up our Christmas tree. You should have seen the exitement in the girls. Our tree looks kinda funny because there is no ornaments on the bottom two feet so Savannah is not pulling them all off. Christmas is a little different here, most think of snow and cold but here it is summer time and in the 90's outside. However our first Christmas in Kenya was around 115 degrees. No street lights with ornaments no lights on peoples houses, you almost forget that Christmas is coming it just kinda sneaks up on you here. Do you think we should wrap Savannah up in the basket as a Chrsitmas gift? I think she would be a good one.

We wish everyone a merry Christmas!

What do you say?

2008-12-14T13:47:00.002+03:00

I am usually not one stumped on what to say on anything. I am a guy right? I have to be able to have an answer for everything. Well today I found myself in that situation.

Remember Joseph? Well I have not seeen him in a couple weeks so today at church I ask him where he had been. He said he had been in a town about 10 miles away from us. So natuarally I said what was you doing there. I watched his eyes start to tear up and he said my younger brother died a couple days ago. My mouth just kinda dropped and I said how? He said that he had been bit by a dog about a month ago and they took him to the doctor for injections. Well about a week ago he got sick again. The dog bot him on the knee. They took him to the nearest hospital and the next day he was dead. From what I could make out of it, it got infected and killed him. So I just sat there with him telling him I was so sorry. The kid that I usually sit and joke with with now had a major issue in his life. I started telling him that life is short and that Knowing Christ and being known by Christ is the most important thing we have in this life. Because of this there is a hope of life after death. Beyond this I really did not know what to say.
Please pray for Joseph in this time , this could be a huge oppertunity with him during this situation.

Meet Furaha

2008-12-06T11:33:00.003+03:00

Furaha which means Joy in Swahili is the new Sunday school puppet. He comes out every now and then to help mama Sarah (Laura) make points. The kids love him and respond very well. I am sure you will see Furaha in many pictures in the future.

Joseph.

2008-12-06T10:45:00.002+03:00

Joseph is one of our local boys. He is 16 years old and getting ready to go into high school. In order to do that he has to leave our community and go to another place. I was thrilled when Jospeh met the challenge that I had challenged my boys with. The challenge was that if they could memorize 35 verses in a few weeks I would buy them a Bible from America. They all wanted english Bibles. So Grace Bible church in Georgia bought us 20 Bibles to be given out to the boys who completed the verses. Joseph was one of the first. Just pray that as Joseph goes away to High school now God will open his heart and he will read the word and follow it through out his life.

Savannah is getting around

2008-11-15T20:59:00.002+03:00

Pulling out bottles and whatever else she can get her hands on.

Sitting in the onion box

She enjoys sitting on her box and playing with the shop door handle.

Kids reading class

2008-11-15T20:52:00.003+03:00

I was very excited to see these kids come over to read this past Thursday. We had such a great time. Even Sarah used some of her Swahili that she has been learning. What a blessing it is to help these kids learn how to read better.

Savannah's 1st Birthday!

2008-11-03T15:20:00.006+03:00

Saturday was Savannah's 1st Birthday. We had so much fun preparing things for her. The girls and I made a cake with sugar cookies spelling her name. Sarah worked hard on a banner that said Savannahs Birthday. We didn't even know that she had made one until the last minute when she aksed us to hang it up. One page per letter! Summer ate more cookie dough than she made cookies!
Savannah didn't let us down. She was cuter then ever opening gifts from your family and friends the Johnson family. She loves the orange they gave her!

She had a blast eating her cake!

She was so funny when we sang Happy Birthday to her. She put her head in Tanya's chest and would not look at us.

We had a wonderful time celabrating the life of our sweet Savannah! We are so thankful for her.

Laura

How many of us?

2008-11-03T14:18:00.000+03:00

As I sat in Sunday school and looked around at all the little kids and all the little kids with little kids on there back, I noticed one of the milk sippy cups that one of the little kids was using. You can see it in the picture. I was just curious, How many of us would have got another cup, or another spoon if it had fell on the floor? How many of you would have let your 1 year old use that cup. Amazing what different worlds we live in. These are some of the sweetest little kids I know. Believe me when I say there are some stinkers in the bunch to though. It is a joy to see there faces light up when they see you. Flys play a major role in the spread of diseases here and sickness. Hygiene continues to be something we try to improve on. Written by Travis.

My Sunday School class

2008-11-03T09:38:00.003+03:00

Just wanted to share some of the faces that are in my Sunday School class. Unfortunately I will be losing several of the older ones as they go off to high school in other parts of the country. Pray for them and there faithfulness. PS The last post about the old Mama was me not Laura.

What would you do?

2008-11-02T15:08:00.002+03:00

I must say that since being in Kenya I have seen a lot of things. I have seen some gross things to. Needless to say for most of you who know me my gag reflex has gotten stronger. However this morning during Church we had a small girl probably about 2-3 years old that came in and had snot running out of both nostrils with flys in it. (Sorry for the details.) Anyway the kids started acting up a little and one of the old mamma's that has been very faithful through the years got up to quiet them. She walked down the row and came to the little girl and made her stand up to walk outside. As I sat there watching I watched the old mama rub the kids head and then take her hand and wipe the snot off the little girls face. Just so happened that I had not greeted the mama yet and we always greet each other. I saw her keep walking toward me to shake my hand with the same hand! SO here is my question, what would you have done at that point? Well I sucked it up and shook the mamma's hand. Wow! What a different place huh? No matter what we feel blessed by The Lord to be able to be here to share Christ with these people.

Always be prepared!!

2008-11-01T15:34:00.004+03:00

Today I went to the school to celebrate the graduation of some of my 8th grade boys. Most of them come to Sunday school. There were 22 of them in all. While I was there the EO (Educational Officer) ask me to come sit with him, so I did. The EO waved at someone to come over to him. I noticed the man had the Itinerary for the day in his hand. As I was watching I saw him mark out 2 churches that was listed on the paper and write A.I.C( That's us here in Kenya) I thought hmmm that is interesting. Then he leaned over and said Travis we want you to get up and speak for 5 minutes. Congratulate the kids and encourage the parents. WOW! I was shocked and was thinking what was I going to say and two minutes later they welcomed me up. Not much preparation time there. There was over 200 adults and 600 kids there. What a platform the Lord had given. I was able to talk to them about what we had been talking about in Sunday school and that was our walk in life and our walk with Christ. In the end I told everyone that one day we will die and the only thing that will matter is Christ, and how we have walked with Him. I also told the boys that I was going to miss them greatly. I did not realize they would be leaving so quickly. They will be gone next week:( We don't have a high school here so they will spread over the country side to different high schools. Maybe it was just being nice but I had an applause when I sat down. Pray the Lord will penetrate the people's hearts here and that opportunities like this one today will continue. Sorry we don't have any pics of the situation but Laura was home making a B-day cake for Savannah to tear into on her first birthday.

All is well

2008-10-27T14:58:00.003+03:00

Things are going well here. Church went real well yesterday. It was good to see some folks there that have not come in a while. Travis taught his Sunday school class in Swahili for the second time!! Yea! He is going through the book of Ephesians with them. I am back into the groove of teaching the children's Sunday school again. Since our last Swahili class I feel like I am able to teach better without be dependent on my notes so much. That is an answer to prayer.
Sarah is still enjoying school and was happy to have finished her first book in school! Her Swahili is coming along too. She really wants to be able to talk to her friends here. Summer continues to make us laugh. She says the funnest things. She is also really into Pooh Bear and said she would like to go to his house when we are in America next time. (By the way, she thinks America is the moon!) Savannah is almost one year old! She is climbing on everything and likes to say "DI" when you come in or out of the house. She also is very close to saying "dad", which I don't think is very fair.
I have been helping with the adult reading class that Tari started. Almi and I will be doing it together while Tari is gone. I love it so much. These ladies, and one man, are so excited and ready to learn. I feel blessed to be a part of it.

Time to work off that baby fat!

2008-10-27T14:54:00.002+03:00

Newsletter Comments

2008-10-18T10:29:00.002+03:00

Please feel free to comment about our newsletter. If you did not recieve our newsletter and would like to please email us as tmmsawyer@gmail.com

Newsletter Pictures

2008-10-18T10:18:00.002+03:00

Tanya enjoying her time with Savannah
The youth enjoying the goat at our recent church picnic
Savannah talking to her Grandad on the phone
Windmill going up another 10 feet
Ladies Bible study this past week

Yummy

2008-10-11T10:59:00.002+03:00

I think this guy should be in Fear Factor! What do you think?

It's good to be home!

2008-10-11T10:38:00.005+03:00

It's always nice to be home and get into the routine of things. We had been gone in Nairobi for quite a while so getting home was a joy for us. We got all our supplies put up and washed the layers of dust off of things here in our shop/house. Our dog Maggie was very happy to see us. Kinda scary when your 140lb dog comes running up to you like she wants to jump in your arms and lick your face out of pure excitement. I was happy to get school back up and running. I know Travis was happy to get into his work clothes and get some things done around here. We enjoyed hearing from James about his buffalo encounter. WOW! It really is amazing that he got away with only a few scratches. I think he likes talking about what happen to him. You can be praying for Barnard's wife Nancy. She was due on September 7 to have their 2nd child and still has not had it. Although I'm sure the due date was off a bit I know she is tired and ready to have the baby.
We look forward to being at church tomorrow since we missed 2 Sundays in a row. I will start teaching Sunday School again which I am very excited about. Tari (fellow missionary) had been teaching a while since she got back from a trip to the US. I enjoy teaching Sunday School and seeing all those kids faces each week. Travis had some youth come to see him yesterday telling him they would be at church tomorrow.
It's good to be home!

Buffalo chase

2008-10-04T15:28:00.005+03:00

Have you ever been taking a walking and a buffalo comes out of no where and chased you up a tree? That is what happen to James one of the guys that works for Travis. James was walking up the hill to our house, and right below our yard a buffalo chased him. He climbed up a small tree and the buffalo knocked the tree down and then pinned him to the ground with it's nose!! Thankfully James got away with only a hurt hand. I'm not really sure how he got away. When Buffalo's are alone they are very fierce and very dangerous. God surely showed His mercy on James.

All is well

2008-10-04T14:58:00.003+03:00

Summer is feeling better now thankfully. Strep throat sure didn't keep her down. It's amazing how kids can be sick and still want to run around. I know for me I wouldn't mind staying in bed and having someone bring me a bowl of soup. We are still in Nairobi but will head back home possibly Monday. Thankfully some fellow missionaries have come in from their stations too, so we are enjoying seeing them. It will be nice to be together for church tomorrow and fellowship afterwards. Travis is feeling better too, which we are very thankful for. Thank you for your prayers. God has been so gracious to us through all this.

Summer

2008-09-29T12:22:00.002+03:00

Summer came down with a fever yesterday and it got worse at night. We started her on Malaria medicine just in case is was malaria and then we spoke to the Doctor on the phone this morning. He had me look at her throat and sure enough it was very red and irritated. He thinks she has strep throat, so he had me start Summer on an antibiotic and keep her on the malaria medicine too. So please pray for Summer as she tries to get over this. Kids are hard to knock down and she wants to run around and ride her bike, so that is always a good sign.
Pray for the rest of us too that we won't get the same thing, especially Savannah!

Update on Travis

2008-09-27T21:40:00.003+03:00

I want to update you on Travis. His condition flared up again so we decided to come into Nairobi this past Wednesday. He saw his doctor and the urologists and they have ruled out a kidney infection and found that his prostate is inflamed. We were told that this is rare but that it is nothing to worry about either. He will be on some medication for 2 weeks for inflammation and infection. We are SO thankful it is nothing bad and praise the Lord for His protection. We would appreciate your continued prayers for this situation.

Savannah

2008-09-27T10:14:00.003+03:00

Savannah really enjoyes pulling up on our coffee table and trying to step to the couch. Very cute and fun to watch. Hard to believe she will be walking soon.

Back to school party

2008-09-27T09:59:00.002+03:00

This past month Sarah started the 1st grade. She was so excited and jumped right into things. She wanted to celebrate the new school year so she put together a party for the homeschoolers. That includes Sarah, Summer, Tanya, Christy and Josh. They planned games and food. It turned out to be a lot of fun and it was neat to see Sarah work to put it together. It encourages me to see her so excited about school. Well that last...?

The Mission station

2008-09-25T15:30:00.004+03:00

Recently Jon was able to go in a small plane and take some pictures of our station. Bottom right with the red roof is the church. Bottom left lower Russells old compound. Top left Russells new house. Middle Johnsons house. Top middle new station water tank. Middle right our shop/house.

Church Picnic

2008-09-25T10:01:00.003+03:00

30 pounds of goat meat, 20 pounds of potatoes, 5 pounds of carrots, 1 pot of beans, 3 pots of rice, 50 japaties, 4- 9x13's of greens, 9 thermos' of chai, and 2 gallons of kool-aid! 75 small kids, 25 youth, 40 adults! That sums up our church picnic this past Sunday. The rain came but that did not stop every one from eating and fellowshipping together. Travis and Almi served every plate and the smell of goat was on there hands even the next day. Sarah ran around making sure every one had a drink and taking thier empty plates. The youth played volley ball as the women watched. We had a great time being together.

God's grace

2008-09-15T20:40:00.003+03:00

It turns out that Travis does not have kidney stones and they will just keep treating him for a kidney infection. We are so thankful that it is not anything worse and that it is treatable. Travis had a long day in Nairobi today. Him and Jon got up early and went to the place to have the C-scan, when they go there they found out the machine broke the night before..go figure. So they headed to plan B which was to get an IV with dye so they could see if there was any blockage. After 4 hours of laying on the table he then found out that he had no stones. Jon sent the girls and I some pictures of Travis laying on the table with the IV. The girls really enjoyed that considering they miss him so much. We are so thankful for God's grace in our lives and His protection over us. The past few days of not knowing has been hard but God's unfailing grace has carried us and given us peace. It seems like the past couple months have been hard in many ways for us but through it all we have learned so much about God's grace. I could go on and list the "woes" of the past weeks but I would rather give glory to God for His Grace in our lives and for teaching us so much through it all.

Update on Travis

2008-09-14T20:33:00.004+03:00

It looks like Travis for sure has a kidney stone. He will have a cat scan done tomorrow to see where it is located and if he is a candidate for surgery. He is feeling pretty good so far. The Doctor put him on a strong antibiotic and gave him some strong pain meds too. Please continue to pray for him. Pray for Sarah and Summer too, they are worried about their daddy. Sarah seems very concerned and upset that he is gone. This is a good opportunity to show them God's comfort and grace in our lives. Pray that I will be consistent to do that.
I will try to update you again tomorrow as I know what is going on.

Prayer request

2008-09-14T12:52:00.005+03:00

Could you all please be praying for Travis. It looks like he may have a kidney stone. He is at Kijabe hospital now waiting to hear what needs to happen next. I will keep you updated on things. The girls and I are waiting here at our home. Travis thought it would be better if Jon, our fellow missionary took him in. That way the girls don't have to see their daddy in pain. So pray for me as I sit here waiting. I want to be with him and that makes it hard, but Gods grace is sufficient.

Also please pray for my Mom. I found out last night that she has pleurisy. Pray for a quick recovery and strength during this time.

Thank you.

We are still here

2008-09-13T16:51:00.004+03:00

So sorry it has been so long since the last time I have bloged. Our internet service here has been poor and it makes it very hard to get on line. Plus down loading pictures is very hard right now. But no worries I will keep trying. I know I need to get an updated picture of our Savannah. She is getting so big and is pulling up on things now. She loves following Sarah and Summer around everywhere and of course they don't mind:) Sarah has started the first grade the 1st of Septemper. So far she is really enjoying it and working really hard to get her work done. I have finally got into a good schedule with school and other activities going on around here. Summer has also start K4 and is so cute about it. She loves doing school, so she says. I think 4 year olds say the funniest thinks. I was going over the colors with Summer and she said them all and then we got to brown and she paused and looked at me and said," cow manure". Is she an MK or what?
Travis had his first "club" at the local school this past Wednesday and he had about 55 kids show up. He thinks more will come next week because the 8th graders were still in class. They sang songs and he taught a Bible lesson. At the end he had a time of questions and one girl around 11 years old ask what the differnce is between social values and Christian values are. Wow! I think he is gonna have a great time being with those kids.
We have had some young boys come by in the evening wanting to play basket ball with Travis. It is so fun watching them try to play. Friday night we had around 7 jr. high boys come by to play too. They had so much fun and poor Travis was wore out by the time they left.
I will try hard to keep you all updated and put some pictures on soon.

Finished for now

2008-08-28T17:01:00.005+03:00

We have finally finished with our Swahili mania so now we are hoping to get things back in gear. Updating our blog for one thing. Right now we are in Nairobi so we will update pictures next week when we get back. It has been a crazy week for us. We brought our dog to the vet hoping we could saved his life, but he died Sunday night. It has been hard on the kids but they are doing well. A friend of ours blessed us with a puppy so they are very happy about that! We hope to head home over the weekend and get back into things. We will try to post a picture of the girls with the new puppy. Savannah has started pulling up on every thing! Watch out! Plus Savannah and the puppy are not sure what to think of each other. They have had a few stare downs. I don't know who is more scared of who. Very fun to watch.

Hello

2008-08-22T08:58:00.002+03:00

I just wanted to say sorry for the lag in blogging. We are doing 5 hours of swahili a day and by the time we are finished the sun is down. You might be wandering what does that have to do with anything. Well for us when the sun goes down we are operating off of our battery bank so we are very careful how much power we use. During the day we are operating off our solar panels so it is no big deal. The computer takes about 150 watts of power, every watt counts when you live in the bush. We had to make an emergency trip into Nairobi yesterday as well. One of our dogs was not acting normal and there are so many diseases where we live it could be anything. So we headed in and got him to the vet. They said if we had waited another day he would have been dead by Saturday morning. He has Tripsi. This is a sleeping disease caused by Titsi fly. We are not in a Titsi fly area but they hang on to trucks and things that go through Titsi fly areas. We are about 15 miles from Titsi fly area. The vet told me that a dog here in Nairobi got the same sickness a while back and they are a long way from Titsi fly area.
By Travis

Answer.

2008-08-22T08:56:00.002+03:00

For those of you who selected that a lion needs 10 lbs of meat a day you were right. It is the equivalent of a person eating 30 lbs of meat a day.

Savannah's first lemon

2008-08-11T16:47:00.001+03:00

Now why did they make me do that?

A girls life

2008-08-08T11:31:00.004+03:00

I have mentioned to you all before about my little friend Melelo. She has become so dear to me I feel like she is one of my own at times. Recently I found out that her parents want to have her circumcised and married. Melelo is only 12 years old. In Kenya female circumcision is illegal, but it is so ingrained in the culture that many tribes still do it. The Maasai are one of those tribes. If you don't know about female circumcision I encouraged you to learn more about it so you will know just how horrible it is.
Melelo has told me that she does not want to do this but her parents are insisting that she does. If she does not and goes against her family then they will shun her, she will not longer be a part of their family. Tears are streaming down my face as I write this to you. Our hearts are broken and we are searching for God's wisdom right now. Melelo wants to finish school and we want to see her have a normal life and follow the Lord. Please pray for Melelo that God would call her to Him self to be saved and that He would give her strength to stand strong. Pray for us as we are seeking guidance as to what is our role in all this and what we need to do to help Melelo.
May God be glorified.

In school again!

2008-08-08T11:05:00.005+03:00

This past week we started our in depth Swahili class with our tutor, Ruth. Wow, I forgot what it was like to sit in class for 5 hours a day. By the end of the day our brains feel like mush. But I will say it is going wonderfully. We could not have asked for a better person to be here with us and teach us Swahili. She is with us for most of the day and has become dear to us. She is working with Sarah and Summer with their Swahili also, very cute!
Travis has had his plate full this week. Jon has been gone so Travis has been teaching morning devotions too. He has enjoyed his time teaching us all word by word in Ephesians 3. He has also had a youth come by in the evenings to play basket ball with him. His name is Joseph and he has been working hard on memorizing the verses Travis has challenge them to memorize. He has said 5 out of 34 to Travis in just one week! It's been fun having him around.
The weekend is here and we feel like it is summer vacation. No more school! Now I know why Sarah is like a pin ball every day after school.