Outreach

At. St. John’s, we are committed to spreading the love of Christ to our community, our nation, and the world.  From our inception, we have committed to allocate not less than 10 percent of the Church’s revenue to outreach activities.

But we see our Outreach ministry not just in terms of financial contributions, but as a chance to involve our people directly in activities and efforts that fulfill Christ’s commands to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters and to spread His word.

Karren in Kenya

Pictures

7 Jambo....

My dream vacation is coming to an end...the only way that I will be able to explain this when I get home...was that it was like a dream. I'm not really sad about leaving because I feel in my heart that I will be coming back. We are meeting in an hour with Henry Kiplingat who is bringing us the receipt of money that we gave him to start the new BH home. They are planning on starting on Monday.....amazing....we thought that we would be getting the plans approved this trip....and might start in a year.... it looks like now that the children could be in the new home by Christmas.

We have been busy every night this week going to rotarians homes for dinner, so it has been hard to email ...the ones who came to Salt Lake in June. They have been so gracious. It has been so much fun being hosted in their homes...I am now truly connected to friends in Kenya.

Thomas and I have been buying new mattresses and blankets for BH....what a gift I have been given to be the one to do this....

I'm not sure that I finished my little Mercy story....we went looking for her on Tuesday...and found her.....she is not an orphan....but her father was killed last year and her mother is supporting her...three brothers...and sho sho...Grandmother. We went to their little mud house....she had told her mother about meeting me on Saturday....and was so excited to see me again.....Thomas is taking me back out to her house this afternoon....we are taking a truck load of food...clothes that the kids that I am here with have given....and two new school uniforms and new shoes for Mercy. My plan was to support an orphan...God has given me a beautiful little family to take care of.

Tonight...it will be saying good bye to the children at Bishop Hanningtons.....we are taking peanut butter and jelley....to make sandwiches....they have never had them before..isn't that hard do believe...but that is what life in Kenya is like.

I have so much more to share... but will wait until I'm home. I thank all of you for your love and support....I truly have felt it. Salla Salama from Kenya....Karren

6 -Jambo...

greetings from Kenya.....I just lost an email that I poured my heart out to all of you...so this will have to be brief....

Thomas and Pastor Philip from the AIC..African Inland Church... picked me up yesterday and we headed out north of Nakuru...in the front of a little Nissan truck...to the church services...once there I found myself in front of 65 africans...in a small cinder block building with 7 other AIC pastors....They were welcoming their new pastor....and the service was in Swahili....I could understand parts of it.....the message was one of love...and how we should love one another. The people had brought bags of beans and rice to give to the new pastor.

It was a great surprise...when I was introduced...I was representing Council man Joseph Cheruiyot who was giving the new pastor a motor bike so that he would be able to visit the people outside of the little town.... I had been given the keys...and everyone went crazy when I presented them to the pastor.

After the service...Thomas and Pastor Phillip took me to a beautiful old Anglican Church that was even further out of town.....We entered the Church through a large gate...and found ourselves surround by over 200 children all in red uniforms....When I got out of the car..I was surrounded...but there was one little face that my eye went to first. Thomas was amazing...he started singing a Christian song...in Swahili....and I was surrounded by 200 beautiful Kenyan children...praising God. In and out of all of those children...I had this one little one that would not let go of my hand....As the Vicar came out to greet us...I realized that my new little friend was kissing my hand. We went inside the church...my first experience in an Anglican church....it was stone...with wooden rafters...the windows were tall and skinny...so there was little light...what an amazing experience.

When we got in the truck to leave...my little one was at the window again..I told Thomas how she had been at my side...in and out of all of those children...it was like she was the only one that my eyes could see. He talked to her in Swahili....and then we left...Outside of the gates he told me that her name was Mercy....she is four years old....and orphaned. He pointed out that she had the sweater of the others but not the uniform. She is from a different tribe...than most of the others She is picked up only on Saturday to have food at the church...but during the week she is not in a safe place.....then he looked at Pastor Phillip and said....we are coming back on Tuesday to find this child....she needs to come with him and be at Bishop Hannington's. St. John's please put little Mercy on your prayer list...and all others please pray for this sweet child....and for me...this is almost too much for me to take. God has put it on my heart that this is one of the reasons that I am here.

Today we went to again an amazing 2 hour church service at ACK Diocese of Nakuru Menengai Parish...St. Christopher's Church. The Vicar in charge was Rev. Samwel Nduati...his message....to grow old is a must...to grow UP is a choice. What do we do with our time....in order to grow UP we must choose to pray and read the bible daily....again Thomas is amazing...As we left he talked to Rev. Samwel...and we were invited to have tea with him in his office....he was very interested in my work at the Ngala school for the deaf and at Biship Hannington's....this week he has invited me to meet with the Anglican Bishop in the area.....

Well...no spell check this time.....thank you for all of your prayers....

Nawapenda....Karren

5 - Karibou my wazumbi friends....

half of my new friends are deaf...half speak swahili.... so our hands are always moving as we are trying to communicate.

This morning I went with Thomas to price the things that I am going to purchase for the orphanage...what a great time...it's all about being able to bargeeeeen.....and Thomas is the best. We are going to meet tonight and decide on what to purchase. I am also working with his brother who carves soapstone....designing a cross to bring home that will be designed for St. Johns Anglican in Park City Utah and Bishop Hannington home in Nakuru Kenya....so that we will be connected...as Thomas puts it.....

This morning the new embroidery machine was delivered. It was purchased by a relief society of a ward in Holladay. It's amazing how God works through our hands. Kathy Newton (my new friend who is the relief society president) and I purchased the machine....as the owner of the shop was taking us to a sweat shop to see the machines working I was able to talk with him. I explained that we were Rafikis from American that we had come to work with orphans and deaf children. I could feel his spirit change. He wanted to know more about our project.....His name is Mesh...and he lost his parents when he was nineteen. Right there he came down in his price on the machine....and promised to help our children. Today he brought the machine....and met the vocational sewing students. It opened his eyes to their needs. He has promised to work with the children on the machine so that they will have a trade....and is going to see if he can donate another machine to the trade. Three of the older students are great sewers already...and he is thinking of ways that he will be able to use them in his factory. We started with a machine and now have a really key person that will change many of these children's lives.... his factor is less than a half a mile from Ngalla...but it took us from thousands of miles away to bring the two together.

The best of the day...if the above was not enough...was that I shared my quilting talent with these precious children. We finished 18 of the pillow tops...the kids were beside themselves...they were having so much fun. Mesh had never seen a rotary cutter or cutting board so he was also amazed at what he was seeing. The first hour they were watching my hands and how I showed them to piece the tops....two hours into it....I stood back and watched them go. The older ones did the cutting...the younger would run back to their singer treadle sewing machines....sew...and race back in line to get their next piece. They need to finish 25 pillow tops...which the Rafikis are going to purchase from them so that they will be able to go out and buy more fabric to make more. These kids are so smart....it's a humbling experience to be able to open their eyes to new things.....

Tomorrow will be another interesting day. When I met with the General Councilman earlier this week...the meeting where they asked me to pray....he said something about something that was happening on Saturday and asked me to come....you know me...I smiled and agreed....

Well I have been told that Joseph (the Councilman) quite liked me...and that now he is not going to be able to attend the ceremony that he was talking to me about... he was going to present his Pastor with a new motorcycle so that he will be able to go out easier and meet with the people in his church...now he has asked me to present it....I wonder what that really means....I will leave you with that....and fill you in tomorrow....please pray for me....

There is so much more I could share...but enough....thank you for all of your prayers.....

Things are happening here and I know that they are happening because of all of you...

Rejoice in your day.... as I go to sleep

la la Salama....Karren

4 - Jambo

St. John's....

Yesterday we went to Bishop Hannington's. I thought that I was prepared , but I was not. It really looks like a chicken coop that the children are living in. No electricity...they have one small what we would call camping lantern....no running water...they have a pipe that catches the water off of the roof and drains it into a big barrel...the bathing area was a stall with a pan of water...the children have never felt warm water....I could go on and on....No refrigeration....sour milk to drink.... no blankets on the beds...no food storage...they have one bag of rice left and in two weeks will have nothing.

This is the way they live and they survive.....

The orphanage is about 25 minutes out of town.....out in the middle of nowhere....Ngala school for the deaf is a 10 minute walk from the hotel. We walk down streets filled with garbage...people walking...riding bikes that you can hop on the back of....mutato's that are vans filled with about 15 Kenyans. that you can get around in.... at night we sit outside with sweatshirts on...does that sound nice...and drink wine until 11:00. I am meeting some of the most amazing women.....

Yesterday we went shopping for an industrial sewing machine for the Ngala students.

What an experience....we were in the sweat shops of the city....I have great pictures...we went with two of the teachers from the school and ended up in places that white people really don't belong.....I bought great Kenyan Fabric and will be starting the audigraph pillow project that I am going to do tomorrow...all of this was yesterday....it's about 2:00 and I am on my way down to the school....the morning was crazy...but I will have to fill you in later...

love to all of you that are reading this....thank you for your prayers....

Asante Sana......Karren

3 - Jambo...

greetings from Kenya. Today is Wednesday. This morning we walked down to the Ngala school for the deaf and joined with the kids in morning prayer. It was very emotional experiencing them sign their prayers. They start there standard testing today so we went around to each class and gave each of them a new pencil. They were so excited. After wards we went to a sewing store and looked at treadle embroidery machines. The students in the vocational program would really appreciate one.... next off to the local fabric store....yes I was in heaven. I have plans to do a quilting project with the vocational children on the weekend.

Yesterday I spent most of the day with Thomas. We received a call early in the morning that one of his kids at a boarding school was sick and needed to be picked up.

I went with him out into the country... it was so green and beautiful, such a contrast to the congested and dirty city of Nakuru. We met Bruno and talked with the doctor's at the school. He has been treated for Malaria for the past three weeks and has had little improvement. We were told that we needed to take him to a specialist in the city. The rest of the afternoon was spent at the doctor's, having labs done and then to the chemist to fill prescriptions. I'm so glad that I got to experience what these people experience....and so grateful for the kind of medical help I have in the US.....

This afternoon we are making are first visit to Bishop Hanningtons...so more to come.

I love and miss all of you very much....thank you for the prayers....

love Karren

2 -Jambo...

what an amazing trip. Thomas from Bishop Hannington's picked me up Sunday and we went to an Anglican Church out in the country. It did not have a name...only District 56. It was very similar to St. John's in size...and was a school building during the week.

The service was in english and swahili. I was asked to stand up and introduce myself...every one gave me a great round of applause. I was the only white person among 125 Africans. After wards we went outside and had millet porridge.....it tasted like wall paper paste that was made with apple cider. They were big mugs....and I got all of it down.

I have been spending most of the days with Thomas getting to know him and the needs of the children. I was with the children on Sunday but they are in school today.

I have been helping with the business plans for the new orphanage that Rafiki's has raised some money for. Yesterday I found myself in a meeting with the General Counsel man of Nakuru. The head Counsel man is Anglican which was really cool. We had gone to him to see if he could wave some of the building fees. During the meeting we were served Kenyan tea which is made from milk. I am always introduced as Karren the Anglican from Utah...he thought that was great and asked me if I could give a scripture for the minutes We had been talking about how it was God's plan to bring us to the people of Kenya...so I came up with Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understandings......I remembered the whole thing...so everyone seemed to be pleased.....then they asked me to pray for the council meeting and gave me a long prayer request list of people that were sick and had died. I just let go and let God speak through me....it was one of those great God moments in my life.

There is so much more to say....but I will write again. Thank you for helping to support these beautiful children. Thank you for your prayers....love Karren

1 - Jambo....

Kenya is amazing...so much more than i had ever expected. i spent the day at the deaf school. The children surround you wanting to be touched and loved. They all touch my cross and then put their hands together in prayer. i wished that i knew more sign but I am sure that by the end of my time here I will be communicating.

I met with Thomas, the head of the Bishop Hannington's this morning. i am planning on going with him and the orphans to church tomorrow at the big Anglican Church here. I am planning on spending most of my time with him next week.

it's getting dark and so i must get back to the hotels....thanks for all of your prayers...love karren

In our short history, we have been involved in several international disaster relief efforts to address the immediate needs of disaster victims.  We have also elected to provide ongoing support to national and international efforts that address systemic and ongoing issues such as world hunger.  In that regard, we have made a major commitment to the Heifer Project, a wonderful program designed to provide the poor in third world countries with the means to become self-sufficient and to feed themselves and their communities.  We also have developed a relationship with A Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee, which donates funds from coffee sales to relief efforts in Rwanda.

On a local level, our people have made mission trips to the Navajo Nation to provide basic necessities to indigent Native Americans.  We actively support the Park City Christian Center and provide people and resources to help the Center meet the spiritual needs of the community and the basic needs of indigent local residents.  And, many of our parishioners are regulars at the Habitat for Humanity building projects in the area.

We have much bigger goals.  For example, we want to actively support national and international mission activities, not only by providing financial support to missionaries, but by organizing mission trips of our own.  At St. John’s, we see Outreach as a critical component of our activities today and a priority for our future.