In ten days, Scott and I are grabbing our passports and setting out on our next adventure. But first, I’m reflecting on a a few of the steps that brought us to this place of departure / /
For a few years I studied and traveled with YWAM, loving the people, the culture, and the purpose they stood for. But moving back home to Nebraska in 2010 (with no YWAM campus within 400 miles), I felt a lacking and a longing to be apart of something bigger. I didn’t really know where to get involved or what to be apart of, then through our church I met a new family – the Petersens. Jeff was our global outreach pastor, and he worked with us as we prepared to travel to Sweden in 2013 with LBC (our first time serving overseas as a family of four). Through that trip we were introduced to his wife, Cynci, and started to learn more about this special non-profit she had started just a couple years prior in a friend’s basement, The Hope Venture.
The Hope Venture is an organization that focuses on compassion projects; meeting tangible needs in areas where hope is scarce. Right now they are making an impact in India, Kenya and Uganda, working with trusted local partners to help facilitate change through student sponsorship, vocational training, feeding centers, cows and goats to impoverished communities and clean water wells (just to list a few projects). Three years ago, we traveled with Cynci and a small team across India, to check in with their local partners, capture stories of lives changed and find ways to improve the partnership in ethical and sustainable ways. Our hearts were changed after that trip, as well as our involvement with the organization.
Since the day we got home in 2014, Scott has been an active member on the board of directors, weighing in on big decisions where time and resources should be invested. Even though I know Scott doesn’t see himself as the typical “board member,” he has felt both passion and purpose serving on this team, getting to be actively involved in a global ministry from right here in Lincoln. And I’ve been able to use my love for running to help direct their annual Run for Hope (a 5k/10k road race), which raises money for kids in India to go to school. (you can learn more about the backpack project and Run for Hope here. & save the date for next year’s run on April 7th!)
All that backstory is just leading up to say that when The Hope Venture invited us to travel overseas with them to Kenya this summer, we couldn’t turn down the opportunity. Kenya holds an extra special place in my heart, because it was there ten years ago when I felt God put the idea of full-time ministry in my heart (& it has been a decade since of wrestling with what that looks like for our family, but I always knew one day I’d be back). On July 3rd, we will be traveling with seven teammates to serve in Narok, Kenya (with myself and one other teammate starting in Uganda to follow up on projects there). We have been preparing for months what this trip will look like, and praying over what we hope to accomplish during our time there. I’m really excited because each member brings a unique skill and gifting to our team, and it’s obvious God brought all of us together for a specific role and purpose.
Scott is a guy who can do anything he puts his mind to, from preach a powerful message to lead an intense game of kickball (both of which he will probably do on this trip), but his main area of expertise will come in leading our team in a construction service project. Our team leader Josh put his final architecture classes at UNL to good use, designing an outdoor classroom structure able to hold over 100 students. Now Scott and Josh are working together in Lincoln, meeting with experts in all different fields (from design to architecture to canvasing), figuring out just how this building will be constructed once we’re on location. Then we will have four days, with the help of over 40 high school students, to work together on this project that will hopefully be a huge blessing to the entire community.
While I plan on picking up a hammer or sewing canvas or whatever is needed of me for the classroom project, I will humbly admit this is not my strongest skill. I hope to serve these local ministries and The Hope Venture by focusing more of my energy on relationships and storytelling. God has been growing in my heart over the past couple years a deep love for people’s stories, and teaching me how earnest tales of life, loss and overcoming, paired with quality photography, can make a huge impact on someone’s heart – forming a connection and camaraderie that might otherwise get lost in translation. This is what I’m most passionate about, so this is where much of my focus will be, both in Uganda and Kenya, in attempts to represent these beautiful people and their incredible stories with sincerity, integrity and hope.
In addition to these areas Scott and I will be serving in, our team is also working together to host a four day retreat for 46 high school students who are connected to The Hope Venture through their student sponsorship program. This retreat will include daily devotionals, games, activities, meals, preaching, and working together to build the classroom as a community service project. Much of our preparation and planning the past few months have been centered around this retreat, focusing on how we can best serve these students – to challenge and encouragement them, while giving them a safe getaway to rest and play.
I think God has big things in store for this trip. I can feel it in my bones. & while I know He will use this experience to influence Scott and I and our future adventures together, my goal is to spend the next ten days, and the ten days after that, not focused on myself. Not consumed with what I need or all the ways I’m lacking – if I feel prepared enough or packed or rested or terribly uncomfortable – or what long-term effects this will have on me, which will domino-effect impact my whole family. Not that those things aren’t important and worth processing, that’s just not where my focus needs to be.
My prayer is to learn how to serve better. to humbly walk into a new culture and be a learner, a listener, a friend. to use the gifts I have not to exalt myself but to lift others up. to share Jesus and his truth in love and grace and compassion. and I’m writing all of this down so that if you’re reading this, you can pray too. Pray for safe flights and good health and team unity, those are all good, important things. But also pray for them.
Pray that there are students whose lives are impacted. that local partners are refreshed and encouraged. that because of the stories we tell more funding is available for families we haven’t even met yet. when you think of us and our travels to Kenya and Uganda, please pray for them too. because ultimately this is not a trip about what we can do, but what God is already doing that we get to come alongside and be apart of.
& for those who like details, here is a loose breakdown of our itinerary:
[ please be praying on these days as you think of our team. we graciously accept every single one ]
- July 3th – full day of traveling (flights from Omaha to Houston to Qatar to Nairobi to Kampala)
- July 4th – lost to the time zone swap (arriving in country near midnight)
- July 5th & 6th – follow up on projects in Uganda, collect stories, video and photos, as well as discuss ways to improve the ministries & partnerships with the HV
- Scott: gather building materials in Nairobi and Narok in preparation for the outdoor classroom building project; begin first stage of construction if possible
- July 7th – 10th – host a retreat for the students connected through the student sponsorship program
- July 11th – A day in the life: pairing off with sponsored students to learn more about their home and family, and capture a piece of their story through interviews, photography, and video
- July 12th – debrief of the retreat & ministries we were able to visit; travel the bumpy 3hrs back to Nairobi
- July 13th – another full day of travel (Nairobi to Qatar to Houston to Omaha)
- July 14th – breakfast debrief in Lincoln; then hug & kiss J&T till they burst (once VBS gets done)
the henn adventures 