This picture was shot by 410 staffer James Ward, on a recent trip to Kenya, with a service trip from NewSpring Church. There is a small village in the Segera are called “Black Tank” by the locals, named after the tank being renovated in the picture.
The obvious irony is… the tanks not black!
The good news is that regardless of the color of the tank, there is now 50,000 liters of clean water in that tank serving the people of “Black Tank”.
We don’t have any green beer or four leaf clovers, but our 410 team did put together a little Irish dance number for your Saint Patrick’s Day viewing pleasure.
I am so excited as 410 is heading into spring. Part of my job is managing our Open Trips. I love Open trips because they are comprised of individuals who are not signing up with the comfort of a church group, going on their own. This adds a whole new dimension to the experience of our service trips. One of the most encouraging and exciting parts of my job over the last several months has been watching our Open teams depart for their trip as “strangers” and arrive home with amazing bonds of friendships which stem from a shared experience of serving in Kenya together. It is truly amazing to see relationships develop that stem from a 410 Bridge Open Trip experience. Many of our trip participants from past Open trips have stayed connected as a team and with The 410 Bridge as volunteers!
As we approach spring, part of my responsibility is to begin preparing our Open Summer Teams as they apply and begin raising support for their trips. We are in need of more sign ups for all of our summer trips. Although our June Open Trip’s application/deposit deadline has already passed, we are willing to take on a few more trip participants as long as we receive applications and deposits right away.
The dates of our summer Open Trips are as follows:
June 10 – June 19
July 15 – July 24
August 19 – Aug 28
We also have a Thanksgiving Open Trip as well as a Christmas Open Trip planned. We need at least 10 people signed up per trip to make this happen! If you or anyone you know is interested in an opportunity to make new friendships and serve the people of Kenya let me know! I would love to speak with you further about the opportunities we have available! You can email me here.
As a staff, we are all reading a book called When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert and at each of our Monday morning staff meetings we discuss a chapter from the book. This week’s chapter was called Yes, In Your Backyard. I absolutely loved this chapter, especially since my husband and I just moved to the city. This chapter talks about poverty and what that looks like in your community. It addresses helping the materially poor but the book as a whole also addresses meeting the needs of the emotionally and spiritually poor. For me, the idea of being “emotionally or spiritually poor” has never really crossed my mind. When I think of poverty, I always think of not having material things. I know that we are all broken people, but I never really thought about what that looks like and what this book has taught me is that poverty can mean many different things and that we are all poor in one-way or another. When I think about other people in that way, it makes me realize that we all have something in common. We have staff members that live in the city and some that live in the suburbs. The poverty that can be found in the suburbs may not be quite so obvious as poverty in the city, but what is so exciting is that God gives us an opportunity to minister to the “poor” no matter where we are and no matter what “poverty” looks like. On the other end of the spectrum (and this is what makes the people of Kenya so special) is that they might be materially poor, but they are not necessarily spiritually or emotionally poor. We can learn so much from them!!
We often talk about the impact that going to Kenya has on everyone that goes and what people can do to keep the “effects of Kenya” going once they return home. I have recently begun looking into what it means to live missionally and I found these great tips on how to live your everyday life with a mission mind. You can click here to read more on each tip but I added a few of my own thoughts.
-Eat with Non-Christians (Jesus did this regularly!)
-Walk, Don’t Drive (When possible-We miss a lot of relational opportunities when in our car.)
-Be a Regular (Get to know the businesses in the community and build relationships.)
-Hobby with Non-Christians (It’s important to show non-Christians that we are interested in the same things. Be the person that a non-Christian can look at and say “That’s who I would be if I were a Christian.”)
-Talk to Your Co-workers (Work is a great place to show that we are alike, but also set apart.)
-Volunteer with Non-Profits (I know of a really great Non-Profit you could volunteer for! ☺)
-Participate in City Events (Even small towns have events!)
-Serve Your Neighbors (Here and abroad.)
I believe living missionally is a way to live out your beliefs that come from the life and relationship we have with our Savior, Jesus. It’s about growing daily in His grace, using our gifts to administer that grace and being who we were created to be by living every moment in communion with God.
If you have been to Kenya and are looking for a way to get connected on this side of “the bridge”, I would encourage you to ask your church or find an organization that is doing meaningful long-term development work within your city.
If you haven’t been to Kenya, we have some really great ways to plug in and make a difference. Check out our upcoming trips here. We’ve also come up with some great ideas of ways to raise money for water in Kenya here.
“The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs. “ -Vance Havner
Our Kenya Country Director, Andrew Guuru, was in Atlanta the last couple of weeks for staff meetings and some strategic planning. Before leaving on his trip to the US, Andrew told Kurt that he would like to get a tattoo while he was in the US. So, last week we took Andrew to get his tattoo. He got a Kenyan Shield tattooed on his forearm. Although painful, Andrew stayed strong saying, “It is not painful enough to make me cry!”. Check out the video below of Andrew getting tattooed.
