VISITORS

So 2016 has been a busy season for us in Kenya and we thought it was about time we updated you all on what we have been doing. In November last year we had to move house. We were blessed to find a house in the same area that we already live. And even better we moved into a much bigger house for the same rent. One of the things we believe that God is calling us to in Kenya is to host people who want to visit Kenya. So with the provision of the bigger house along came many visitors; 18 different people have stayed in our home this year and so the best way to share what we have been doing is to tell you about them.

1. Meg Richards
2. Maddie Richards
Meg arrived in Kenya in August 2015 to live with our family for 6 months and help us as a nanny to the girls. Meg greatly blessed our family and we were grateful for her time with us. She left in Feb 2016. For the last 2 weeks of Meg's time here she was joined by her sister Maddie. We wonder if Maddie was sent to make sure Meg came home !!! 

Meg and Maddie with the girls

3. Jens Schmidt
Jens stayed with us in early January. He was delayed in Nairobi for a few days after finishing staffing the Iris Harvest School of Missions. We had never met Jens before but we were connected through mutual friends and we loved having him stay for a few days.

Jens and us before he left

Churchlands Mission Team - 4. Roland, 5. Chris, 6. Georgina and 7. Maggie
Also in January, we hosted our first missions team from our church in Australia, Churchlands Christian Fellowship. The team consisted of four people: Roland DeHaas, Chris Whitwell, Georgina Corlett and Maggie Johnstone. The team were very busy (as were we) and fitted a lot into small amount of time here. They were a huge blessing to many here.

The team enjoying a tourist day out at the Nairobi National Park

8 & 9. Geoff and Carole Parsons
Geoff and Carole Parsons were with us in February and are pastors from our church in Australia. They have been visiting Africa to minister for a number of years. They were in Kenya ministering at a church in the country area so we invited them to come to Nairobi and stay with us.They were able to run a morning seminar with our Nairobi based Southern Cross pastors. 

The gathering of pastors in our home to hear Geoff and Carole Parsons.

10 & 11. Colin & Fran Fallows (AKA Fiona's Parents)
In March we were excited to have Fiona's parents visit us. It was wonderful to see them and as well as show them around our city we were able to show them some of the work that we are involved with here. It was their first time to Africa and we think they'll agree that it had a great influence on them. We loved having them here!

Enjoying a lovely lunch at Kiambethu Tea Farm

12, 13 & 14. Southern Cross Leaders Advance - John and Alaine McElroy and David Apelt
In April we had our annual leaders conference for Southern Cross Association of Churches, which is the relational network that we oversee here. Our pastors from Australia John and Alaine McElroy travel here every year to equip and encourage the Pastors here. David Apelt is also a regular visitor to Kenya and he also played a big part in the teaching at the conference. David stayed on with us after the conference and spent time with Anthony at 1st Joy Academy.

The new Southern Cross members

The delegates at the conference

15 & 16. Richard Jefferies and Anne Jefferies
In May we had Richard and his mum Anne come and stay with us. Richard is a good friend of Lyndon and Kathy Armstrong who are regular visitors and supporters of Kenyan projects. Richard wanted to visit and see some of the projects. We were able to host Richard and Anne in our home and we took them to visit a number of projects here in Nairobi. We were blessed to have them in our home.

Sharing a meal together

17 & 18. Mark Fallows & Joshua Rule
As we write this blog we currently have visiting with us my brother Mark and his friend Josh. Mark and Josh are here with us for 3 weeks and wanted to come here to see what we do. We are planning on visiting a number of projects that we work with as well as checking out some of the tourist attractions. It has been wonderful to have our family come and see what we do here.

Mark and Josh feeding the giraffes

So we hope you can all forgive us for not being better with our communication this last six months!

At the end of June we will be back in Australia for some R & R. For those of you in Aus we look forward to seeing you. 

God Bless,

Love Anthony, Fiona, Zoe, Pippa &Lucy xo