We're out of here... I think

Last night we went back to the airport to try to rebook our connecting flight to try to get to Nairobi by Tuesday so we can get on the charter flight by Wednesday morning. So, after two hours at the airport here is a new itinerary:

Monday United airlines #934 leaving Los Angeles 12:00 noon arriving London 6:30 am then we leave London 10:30 a.m. on British airlines flight #65 arriving in Nairobi 8:45 p.m. which gets in on time for the Wednesday charter flight. Now here is where the prayer needs to come in. United says that their people will go in the belly of the plane and re-label our luggage to go on the British air flight instead of the Kenya Air flight. All of the orphans’ letters and backpacks and clothes are checked in. Please pray that our luggage will arrive with us on the British airline flight.

OK... maybe not

After taking this picture, talking on the cell phone saying good bye to family, telling them "I love you," we boarded the plane, fastened our belts, then the pilot says, "we have some bad news - the plane is leaking fuel!" So, we all deplaned and they said the plane should be fixed by 9:00 p.m. Ok there goes our connecting flight. An hour later the report was the plane cannot be fixed and now we will be leaving monday at noon. But, your luggage will stay on the plane. We are back home tonight... And will be leaving on Monday. But here's the deal: we had a 24 rest scheduled in Nairobi to adjust to the time change and to shower before we fly to Sudan. Please pray that our itenerary changes can be adjusted. The plane that we are flying into Sudan is a charter flight and it is scheduled to fly out Wednesday morning. Please pray that we can get to Nairobi by Wednesday morning or that we can change the charter flight for later.

We are out of here

Happy Easter!! Today is the day that we leave for Sudan. We just finished two highly charged services my prayer is that we honor our Lord. Please pray for our travels there and back Jennifer and I will be back to share in the service on Sunday, April 22nd. Ellie will return to share in the services the following week, April 29th.

Ellie has arrived in LA

I received a phone call from Ellie at 8:40 a.m. saying “I’m here” in a very tired voice. I parked the car walked over to baggage claim hoping she looks somewhat like the picture she sent us. And sure enough we recognized each other. After a few hours at our home we went to “Target” and REI for last minute shopping, then we took her the local diner “Ronnie’s” for lunch. We went to the church to get ready for tomorrow and Jennifer started packing and Ellie crashed!

Kevin

A note from Ellie:

I’m sending this in place of a formal good-bye to you my dear friends with the hope that you will provide your prayers for this journey. Together let’s ask God to see the suffering of His people and to add to our numbers those who are being saved. Praise Him for the opportunity to know first hand what is happening on the other side of the world and the power that He gives us to use love to bridge the cultural and physical differences between us. I want nothing more than to close my own eyes and see what I am about to see with His eyes. To cry because He is crying; to ache, because He aches and to love, because HE LOVES. This leaves me with great anticipation to see what it is really like over there and what exactly the God of all creation is doing about it. I know that He works all things together for good and I am convinced that many good things will come from the evil that has lived in Africa. I am blessed to see his work.

Ellie

update

Hi team,

This is going to be a great trip.

There has been a bit of shuffling here and there but here is the latest information. Please let me know of any challenges with this schedule.

Don:

arrives in Nairobi 6:15pm Thursday April 5th - stays at Mayfield night of 5th

Friday 6th - Don flies to Eldoret on evening flight (will need to be picked up please) and goes to Ilula for night of 6th.

7th - Saturday am Don travels to Kipkaren for Guardian Day and connecting with ELI KK team

8th - Sunday - Easter at Kipkaren -

Sunday evening Don travels back to Ilula for dinner and night.

9th - Monday at Ilula - then takes evening flight to Nairobi - Sleep at Mayfield

TEAM:

10th - Tuesday - Don meets Sudan team from California at Nairobi JKIA at 6:30am Kenya Airways (Tim Trier, Jervaun Trier, Ellie Clause, Micah Albert, Kevin and Jennifer Robertson)

All team goes to Mayfield for orientation, showers, repacking for Sudan. Sleep at Mayfield.

11th - Wed - 6:30am meeting time at Wilson airport MAF Charter flight for above Sudan team (Davis, Julius, Kiptoo, Elizabeth will be picked up in ELDORET).

11th-17th in Sudan

17th - Tuesday - team returns from Sudan and is dropped off by MAF in Eldoret Then team goes directly to Ilula

18th - Wed - team is in Ilula and in the evening Micah Albert is taken to Eldoret Airport to go to Nbo AND Tammy Ring will be picked up and brought back to Ilula.

19th - Thurs - Team travels from Ilula to Kipkaren in time for greeting and lunch (ROBERTSONS - Kevin and Jennifer stay in Ilula and take evening flight out to NBO)

Team arriving in Kipkaren are Don R., Tim Trier, Jervaun Trier, Ellie Clause, Tammy Ring

20th - Friday - AIDS HIV campaign

21-25 continue in Kipkaren (23rd - Jervaun Trier is taken to Eldoret Aiport for flight to NBO)

25th team participates with Edna and children ministry outreach in Kipkaren.

25th evening team travels to Ilula

26th Ilula

27th - evening flight for team from Eldoret to NBO and then to USA

Blessings in Christ. We cover all this in prayer.

Where will we be?

We will be traveling three days before we arrive in Sudan. We leave from LAX to London then London to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Nairobi, and Nairobi to Padak, Padak to Sudan. You can click on the map for a bigger picture. We will be staying between Bor and Jonglei at the orphanage and school in tents.

Facts about Sudan

• They have suffered the longest continual civil war in the world – conflict for nearly 21 consecutive years and for 37 of the past 48 years.
• An estimated 2 million people have suffered war related deaths during the past 21 years. Sudan’s death toll is larger than fatalities suffered in current and recent conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Somalia, and Algeria combined. Twice as many Sudanese have died in the past 21 years than all the war related deaths suffered by Americans in the more than 200 year history of the United States.
• The people of Sudan have fled their homes in larger numbers than any other country on earth—4 million are internally displaced within the country, and 800,000 are refugees in neighboring countries.
• The people of Sudan are struggling to escape one of the worst famines seen anywhere in the world in recent years—approximately 2,5 million people faced serious food shortages last year, thousands died.
• The 30 Million people of Sudan live in Africa’s largest geographical country. Their country is equal to the size of the United States east of the Mississippi River. The southern one-third of Sudan, where the warfare, famine, dying, and population displacement are worst, contains approximately 5 million impoverished people in an area roughly the size of Texas.
• Virtually all of southern Sudan’s 5 million people have fled home at least once during 21 years of war. Families have become scattered to the winds: brothers and sisters cut off from siblings; widowed or abandoned women forced to live alone.
• Many southern Sudanese people have lived an uprooted existence for 15 years or more. They have become vagabonds of their country’s war—forced to flee from one location to the next again and again and again. Many have been displaced a half-dozen times during the past decade.
• Daily life for uprooted Sudanese is harsh, with no margin of error. Stripped of their possessions, families struggle to feed and clothe themselves in strange new surroundings that feel remote and unwelcoming. Even as they go about the arduous daily chores of survival, individuals face loneliness, and gloom. Life they feel is passing them by.

“Average Church Band”

Today we had a prayer time for Angela. She is the keyboardist and singer of the "Average Church Band." They were given the opportunity to entertain the troops this Easter weekend. Please pray for them this coming weekend. myspace.com/angelavicente

Ellie Claus

Last November I flew up to Anchorage, Alaska for my Grandfather's funeral. My cousin's husband Karl Clauson is the Senior Pastor of Change Point (changepointalaska.com). It’s a huge church and runs over 5000 a week. My other cousin Gwen Adams is the senior leader of the children's ministry which is running over a thousand children on a weekly basis. Gwen was asking me a lot of questions about Sudan after the funeral. Through this conversation I found out that my grandfather, in the last 6 months of his life, had been praying for the healing in Sudan and that it was a burden upon his heart. Gwen felt she would love to get involved in supporting some type of ministry in Sudan. She said “I have a thousand children that come to our church. If each child would bring a dollar a week that is a $1000.00 a week!” Now there are two ways I could approach this: 1) A sales presentation with PowerPoint and try to meet with key players and close the deal. Which is not me. Or 2) bring someone with us and allow the Holy Sprit to speak to them and let them see what Christ sees and come back to Alaska and share Christ's heart. With this on my mind I thought of asking Gwen to come to Sudan with me. But, my cuz has three children and is running a huge ministry, so going into a very dangerous country is not the brightest thing especially if you don’t have a clear calling about going, forget it. I told Gwen the best thing to do is find someone with a heart for orphans. Two months later I was given a phone number with a name “Ellie.” I called Ellie and realized that I have an opportunity to equip Ellie “to do great things for the Kingdom of God.” I believe in order to do that you have to take risks - big risks - Sudan-sized risks. In a conversation I had with her, she is definitely open to take risks in order to be sold out on Him. Easter Sunday I’m going to introduce her to our congregation at the 9:00 am and 10:45 service for prayer before we fly out that day. Please begin to pray for Ellie that the Lord will instill His direction for her life and that when she goes back to Alaska she will bring part of the hearts of the Sudanese children with her.

Signed, sealed, delivered

We're going to be getting to know 24 orphans that have lost both parents due to the war. I think it's important that these dear children know who is praying for them and supporting them. If you would like to write a letter to them, Jennifer and I will hand deliver it. (yes they are leaning English) In the letter describe who you are and where you live. We will show on a map where the letter is coming from. Please enclose a picture of your self or your family. It's important to have a picture of you and your family to put up in the classroom. If you interested please mail it to:

Kevin Robertson

12610 Braddock Dr #225

Los Angeles CA 90066

Or email me at:

Pastorkevin@marinachristian.org and attach a photo and we will print the letter and photo and bring it with us. Then when we come back we will put the letters in this blog with their picture. It's important that we build a relationship with these children. Please mail them by Tuesday April 3rd, and email by Friday April 6^th.

Sudan Schedule

This is a email from Don Rogers our team leader

Hello again team,

I pray that things are coming together well for the upcoming trip.

I will be in NY for a few days and then leaving for Kenya on the 4th to be there ahead of you by a few days.

A tentative schedule for Sudan:

11th - Leave Nairobi and arrive Padak, So Sudan

Travel by truck one hour to Kolmarek (ELI Site)

Fellowship with Stephen and staff.

12th - Visit with community / home visits / Explore ELI training center / help with construction

13th - Visit School / Visit Cattle camp

14th - Sat.- Children's games and simple Bible story - Meeting/Discussions with local Pastors

15th - Sun. -Church - Discussions with youth - Rest

16th - Mon - Final Video takes - Possible follow-up with teachers and pastors

17th - Tues - fly from Padak to Eldoret and to ELI Kenya Training Center

Everything is coming together well. There will be times for ministry with the children in Sudan. A couple of parachutes have been ordered (Thanks Kevin and Jennifer) which will provide some amazing interaction with children. You may want to bring a few other things like a few jump ropes.

Tim - can you bring those uninflated soccer balls in the office and an air pump?

Visual Bible pictures / flannel graph story or two would be a bonus.

We will have a Kenyan nurse traveling with us! Bernard Kiptoo has been to Sudan before and will be a blessing to have on the journey with us.

Much of our time is dedicated to Listening and Learning. Having a few light tools for spontaneous ministry to children is good.

I'll communicate more within a couple days from NY.

Keep covering this trip with your prayers.

Looking forward,

Don

Missing my buddy….

Going on this trip is exciting and scary at the same time. Last year when I went, Gordon was my biggest encourager. He kept saying “the Lord is going to bless you. He is not going to let any harm come to you.” When I was gone last year he told me that he prayed every day for me on this trip and when I got back Gordon was the first one I saw (besides my wife). I remember I told him “It’s you and I next year buddy!” It will be a year next month since he passed away. I’m still going to wear his hat in Sudan that he gave me last year. But I will miss his prayer covering and his words of encouragement, and his friendship. As we are approaching Easter we are reminded that we serve a risen Savior. Jesus is the one that majors in resurrections. I baptized Gordon a few years ago and baptism simply means death to ourselves as we begin a new life in Him. On April 29^th 2006 Gordon died. But, on April 29^th 2006, Gordon was given a new resurrected body that will last forever. One day I will see Gordon again according to the Bible. That’s what brings me Joy when I miss my buddy.

A Day of Shopping

Yesterday and today we started our shopping for Sudan. Where we are staying is going to be very remote. I don’t think people get how primitive it is there. There is no running water, no electricity, and no toilets. There isn’t even a store around. I have this idea of a reality show. 5 young adults that live in the West Side live in Sudan for two weeks and see how they would survive. It would be a great show. We are going to be in the Sudan for five nights. We bought our tent, air mattress with a battery operated pump, and sleeping bags. We have to buy new clothes for the trip for a few reasons: That we need to have long sleeves, no shorts, and Jennifer has to have long skirts. The temperatures average 100 to 120 during the day and 90 to 100 at night. This is the summer season in Sudan. The reason we are wearing long sleeves is protection from the sun and mosquitoes. When we leave Sudan we will leave all of our cloths there (with the exception of the ones on our back) because there is such a need for clothes. We bought extra batteries for the digital camera as well as the video camera. Please continue to pray for Jennifer and I as well as the other team members that are joining as. We are a week and a half away from Easter and leaving for Sudan.

Our Anniversary

After church we hit the road. We drove north up interstate 101 to a small town on the beach called "Cambria." We are staying at the "Blue Dophin Inn" until Wednesday. I don't know if this is a good or bad thing but neither of our cell phone has reception. We have to drive 2 miles from the hotel to get reception and 32 miles to the closest Starbucks which is in Morro Bay. But, it's a beautuful area and a nice room with a fireplace. We're celabrating 7 years of marraige.

A Good Morning

As you know, when I started my sermon series “Mind, Body, and Soul” through the book of Colossians, I told the congregation that one of my goals was that on Easter Sunday I can have my shirt tucked in without having a gut hanging over my belt. I have been walking 4 miles a day and have been doing sit-ups. This morning I decided that I was going to jog to the beach without stopping (2 miles). I did it! My calf and ankles hurt but I did it. When I was walking back there was a lady that I pass almost every day for the last 6 months and all we have said is good morning with a wave. This morning was different. When I was about to wave and say good morning she staring talking. I pulled out one of my earphones from my i-pod and said “pardon” and my morning was made when she said “You’re looking good” and rubbed her stomach. I said thank you and took this picture of her walking away. Talking about making your day!! A complete stranger saying three encouraging words. How powerful our words can be to encourage one another even if we do not know them.

Getting ready

I decided it’s time to start writing for my blog again. We are two weeks away from leaving for Sudan. I’ll try to keep daily updates on everything with the ministry, myself, and Sudan. One new thing I am doing is inserting videos in my blog . Tomorrow will be the first test video. If it works I’ll post it tomorrow evening. The reason I’m trying this is that I can post videos from my trip in Sudan and give you more of a feeling of being there with us.

Apel Mary Mading (10 months) and Aguto Elijah Mading (3 years) (True orphans)

Mary and Elijah with their grandmother, who takes care of them
Aguto Elijah Mading (Age 3)

Apel Mary Mading

Elijah and Mary live with their grandmother, who also takes care of
two other grandchildren. Their father died in the war, and their
mother died of typhoid when Mary was just two months old. Their
grandmother tries to plant some sorghum, but has hardly any income
from that. We provide her with the necessary means to be able to care
for these two children.

Abraham Ngong Kueth (Age 12)

Subject: Abraham Ngong Kueth (Age 12)



Abraham grew up with his uncle. "I hear my father and mother are
around, but I don't know... My mother was wife number 2 to my father,
and they got divorced. My uncle took care of me, but then he took me
to a cattle camp. I stayed at the cattle camp since I was small. I
don't have any brothers or sisters."

Abraham is in Grade 1. He likes to play football, and wants to be a
doctor when he's big. Why a doctor? "Everyone says, 'I'm sick, I'm
sick!' But there are few doctors around. I want to be like the people
who came and helped people by making them feel better."

(He was brought to the home by Abraham Mayan.)

Rachel Amer Kuol (Age 11)

Rachel's father was a soldier in the SPLA army and was killed in the
war. Her mother was abducted by guerillas. "I don't know my mother,"
she explains. "My grandmother took care of me. But my grandmother
doesn't care about me. So when I heard about the school, I decided to
come here. I decided by myself. My grandmother didn't care."

When asked what she liked about school, Rachel replies, "I like to
think, think, think!" She also likes reading in the afternoons.

"When I'm big, I want to be an evangelist!" she says.