KENYA Believe It?! Lubbock FBC Nine30 Team Day 2

WOAH! KENYA believe we are already finished with our time at BCC?! Our team is finally complete with the late arrival of Kyle, as he flew in a day after us due to his graduation! Our word of the day was "GoFlow" - Cody's idea! This was encouragement to stop asking questions, be flexible with our schedule and activities, and just go with the flow!! Once at the BCC, the staff treated us with tea and treats and even served us our first TRUE Kenyan meal! We all enjoyed the food no one got sick, so this is a blessing!! Adhering to our GoFlow attitudes, we kind of had free reign once we began activities with the kids! We all agreed that being able to do what we wanted to do, rather than being in designated groups with designated children, was really awesome and I think this is what we will continue to do at the two orphanages in Kitale! Today we really felt like we were each able to use our "gifts" and were able to do what we came here to do - serve God by serving the children! We even had a REAL game of basketball going as well a "human train" with about 50 kiddos for almost an hour!! We also taught the children "RAIDER... POWER!" with their guns up!! Look for videos once we get back! Hannah even asked a group who Jesus was to them and they responded with "Savior, Healer, Redeemer, and King of Kings"! GOD IS HERE Y'ALL!! As we left the BCC, our hearts were broken with children asking when we would come back and telling us not to leave! It's really starting to hit us that this amazing experience will end and that we MUST make the absolute most of every moment we have here! Cristy led the team's devotion this morning and so I will leave you with this!! Psalm 34:4-10 GOD WILL PROVIDE!! We appreciate all your prayers! We are not sure if we will have WiFi in Kitale over the next few days!!

FBC Lubbock Nine30 Team in Kenya!!!

WE MADE IT!!! After almost 24 hours of traveling, we landed in Nairobi, Kenya... with ALL our luggage! That's a blessing within itself!! After little sleep we woke up to a GREAT breakfast (American style) and AMAZING coffee on Monday morning! Today we were at the BCC, Baptist Children's Center, in the "slums" of Nairobi. We were all really impressed with the facilities and they were much nicer than expected! There was even a class for sewing training where they made their own uniforms and make clothes to sell to the community. As we arrived, the children sprinted to the vans in excitement! Needless to say, there were plenty of tears and discussion of how many children we could fit into our suitcases! On our way to BCC, we were very humbled by seeing the children digging through trash and standing on the side of the road. There are 24 resident orphans at the BCC but 337 students enrolled in the private school, which costs about3 US dollars per month!! We worked with the kids at soccer, volleyball, basketball, jump ropes, and tons of singing and dancing - or maybe they taught us more than we taught them!! Tried to post pictures but it won't let me from my iPad!!

Machu Picchu and Cusco, Peru

As I am beginning to write this post, we just experienced an earthquake! It only lasted for about 30 seconds, but Sarah Cargill is still recovering. On to more important news, we have had an amazing past two days. Yesterday, we were able to visit Machu Picchu. It was my second time to get to see all of the amazing structures, but was just as cool as the first time. I think we were all amazed, even on the train ride on our way to Machu Picchu. It was really a wonderful way to experience God's creation, and to learn about the way other people lived. Today was a really great day for us all as well. We got to spend the whole day with girls from a "transitional home" that Buckner does for girls who have grown up in the orphanage system and now are transitioning into life on their own. This morning we were able to go with them to church which was really fun and different for all of us. It was a bit challenging for us since the entire service was in Spanish which none of us really speak, but it was exciting to pick up on words that we have learned and put together what was being discussed. Then we got to eat lunch with the girls, spend time with them in their home, play some volleyball, and of course dance and sing karaoke. In my opinion, we did a great job jamming out to Taylor Swift and Brittney Spears. Sarah and I did our best to sing Total Eclipse of the Heart when they were all singing it in Spanish. All in all, we had a blast and loved getting to know the girls. With love from Peru, Kimberly Fogle

A Week in San Antonio Home - Lima, Peru

The first stop on our trip with Buckner to Peru, was the San Antonio home in the city of Lima. We spent 4 days working with the kids that lived there. We played countless games and all pretty much threw out our backs giving piggy-back rides. It was a blast. The kids that lived in this home ranged in ages from about 4-12 and they lived in the orphanges for reasons ranging from abusive parents, to being abandoned, to their parents giving them up as a last resort to extreme poverty. Despite their situation, they all played so happily with us. Between all of the hugs and kisses they just wanted someone to spend personal time with them. More than anything else they just needed to be loved on. Our plan was to host a structured VBS, teach bible stories and do crafts, that sort if thing. It was nearly impossible to calm them down enough to reach any level of organization. They were simply to excited to have someone to play with them. They were quite literally wild with excitement. Our mission trip coordinator and translator had magic touch with the children that all of us admired. Through the chaos she was able to help us reach the kids through her animated translations and incredibly genuine LOVE for each and every one of them. It was a testament to all of us the power that lies in making good use of your spiritual gifts. Working with children is obviously Giuli's gift. It was incredible and almost magical to watch. Yesterday we had to say goodbye to the children we have made friends with over the past four or five days. The only thing that kept us all from tears was the craziness of those last few minutes. I fell in love with so many of them, and I wanted to take them home with me. It's hard to imagine what the rest of their life will be like, and I want to hope that there is hope in their future. I wonder where they will be in ten years and the likelihood of what will happen to most of them makes me sick. The outlook of children raised in orphanages is far from great. I have met these kids and seen such potential, and such sweet spirits that I cant help but love them and want the best for them. If it were possible for me to find them all loving homes and caring parents I would. And I would visit them as often as possible. I wish I could adopt them myself. http://instagr.am/p/KoGuBGntG7/ This is picture of the first day we spent at San Antonio. Credit goes to Jared Anderson and his addiction to instagram. This has been a magical week for all of us that came to visit San Antonio home, and I can only hope that the time we spent with these kids has as big an effect on their lives as it has had on ours. Bailey Jarvis

God is Good!

Jambo! This is Kimberly and these last few weeks in Kenya have been incredible! Not only have I traveled to Buckner’s western Kenya locations but I have also been on safari and to the beach in Mombasa along the coast of the Indian Ocean!

Around mid-May, a team that works at Buckner International headquarters and handles international programs came to Kenya for an operational review and I had the opportunity to join them in their journeys. Having not had the opportunity to travel the 7 hours by road to Kitale, Busia, and Bungoma in western Kenya before, the team asked me to join them so that I would be able to have the same experiences as themselves and understand the organization that I am volunteering for even better. It was amazing to see just how hard Buckner works to set up facilities that transform communities in the most rural of areas. All of these locations were in the middle of nowhere, down very rough roads deep in the country side where it would be very easy to get lost or stuck if you had car troubles. I can’t imagine how difficult it is for the majority of the rural population who have no mode of transportation other than walking on their own two feet! These families have to be so independent in their ways of survival as they have to walk far to fetch water, plant and harvest their own food, and find other ways to cover their basic necessities in life. While there were one or two actual brick homes, most of the villagers lived in mud huts with thatched roofs, a few had “trim” or some kind of designs painted on them. It was very neat to see how people with so little, customized their houses to make it feel more like home.










At every location that we went to, all of the staff seemed devoted to the mission and vision of Buckner, most considering themselves second parents to the children and seeking ways to make school exciting and fun to look forward to everyday. The teachers are definitely committed to their students as many of the schools reported scores amongst the highest in the region, and parents and pastors were even willing to educate children in grades that the school did not have classrooms for in churches instead of on campus. Several of the teachers showed us the different resources and techniques that they used to make learning enjoyable such as using dried corncobs for building and counting lessons and having students do a celebratory dance when they correctly solved a math problem on the board in front of the class.The kids are bright and very respectful. They stand every time a teacher walks into their room, are very polite, and are eager to learn as they realize that education in this country is considered a privilege by many rural families instead of a right.
The medical staff at the locations that have clinics see over 1000 patients a year and are very good at their practice as well. We had the chance for them to explain what they do, how many lives they have impacted through medical services and how, as well as achievements that they have accomplished. In the areas that they serve, ailments and hospital visits have drastically declined and things such as family planning, HIV/AIDS awareness, and anti-malaria and other common disease prevention awareness has improved the community health and wellbeing. Some of our nurses and lab practitioners have even been invited to medical conferences of which are invitation only and convey a high level of recognition for their work.
And the kids, oh my gosh, they are so cute and sweet! Every place we went, they would all rush up to our vehicle and want nothing more than to hold our hands, hang on us, play with our hair and run around to kick a ball, with us on their team. At the Busia location, which only has Pre-K and Kindergarten students, the group made up a song that they sang in Kiswahili that meant “the mzungus (a word they use for Americans or other western cultured people) came from the white van” over and over again, some even putting in a few dance moves. It was so adorable! I’m so glad that God has granted me this opportunity to see the incredible work that Buckner is doing in these children’s lives and how he works through Buckner to strengthen and empower families in order for them to raise out of poverty and lead happy, healthy, and sustainable lifestyles. I know that might sound like I copied and pasted the mission and vision of the organization into this blog and just added a few more words to make it sound real, but the thing is, here in Kenya, it is very real and that is exactly what Buckner are doing! God is so good!













The two other trips I took, one to the Masai Mara of Kenya for safari, and one to the north coast of Mombasa to the beach, were awesome as well, although in a different way. It is amazing to see what God is doing through people and organizations, but it is also really amazing to see how God has created this land without the intervention of people.

The Masai Mara was absolutely gorgeous, the air was so fresh and clean, the view spectacular, and the animals so majestic! My safari vehicle got right up close to the animals, about 10 feet away from male lions and on another instance, we had CHEETAHS actually BRUSHING UP against our jeep! I could have reached down and touched them! It was so exciting!!!! Let’s just say, the pictures I took rock! The “Big Five” animals in Kenya are the lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo, and leopard and I saw 4 of the 5 within the first day I was there, although my group never spotted the leopard. It was fun following the tracks to try to find it though. Some of the other animals I saw were warthogs, hyenas, gazelles, hippopotamus, ostrich, crocodile, birds, fox, zebra, and Masai men herding their cows right in the middle of all this open land! Being that it still in the first season of the year, there were many adorable baby animals with their mothers - newborn elephants being one of them, and even as infants they are huge and walking. I think it is interesting how animal babies are up and walking within a few minutes to a few days after birth while human babies take a good 9 months or so. God’s creation is so good.















Just this last weekend I went on “holiday” (vacation) as it is called here for a few days to the coast of Kenya. It was beautiful here too, but in a more man made meets nature kind of way as there were hotels and resorts that lined the beach and people out enjoying the days and the clear, warm water of the Indian Ocean. I tried snorkeling for the first time and in my utter excitement, forgot to put on sunscreen before diving in the water. I am paying for that now, you could probably cook an egg on me, but it was definitely worth it. My guide diver was very good and led me and another lady around in the water and showed us all different kinds of fish, stingrays, eels, coral, and other sea life. I am definitely learning how to scuba dive one day so I can become even more “at one” with the fish and see at greater depths! This water was so unlike Texas coast beaches where it is so often brownish and cold, or at least colder than I would prefer. While we were swimming around, we came across this school of really large, yellow, black, and white Spadefish. It is so cool to see how if one fish turns, all the other fish turn automatically! Later our guide took us to a sand bar and then hunted down this starfish. It was so pretty and unlike any other that I’d ever seen that I could have sworn it was made of wax if I had seen it anywhere other than right from the bottom of the ocean! My group also got to hold a sea urchin and a sea cucumber, although those were more weird to touch and feel than the star fish. And man, the sunset over the ocean later in the day! Once again, God is so good!












All of this beauty, from the hearts and work of people to serve others, to the nature and animals that are on this earth, it can only be explained by God’s love. Can I get an AMEN?!

Long Term Volunteer- Peru

Things have started out great for Ryan, the long term volunteer in Peru! He is getting settled in and taking each day in stride with new assignments. One highlight thus far was spending a day at the beach with the girls in the transition home...where he ate octopus! O, the day in the life of a volunteer! More updates to come from Ryan soon. If you would like information to volunteer with Buckner long term contact Ashley Marble at amarble@buckner.org.

Project Go!

We have received our first round of Project Go! applicants and have started the placement process! If you or anyone you know is interestsed in applying for Project Go! have them contact amarble@buckner.org.

In the above picture one participant is writing letters to inform his family and friends of his summer plans through Buckner! Excitement is in the air. You can find out more details about Project Go! here.

Northlake Baptist Church in Honduras Day 6

Today was our last day in Honduras for this year. It was so much fun and we are going to miss every minute of it. The girls and boys here really touched our hearts and it was super hard to have to say goodbye and leave them here with what little they have. Knowing what we are going back to, and how its more than what they have. Our perspectives on the way we see things have changed, but for the better. We know that God has a plan for all of the kids, and we pray that they will grow into very good men and women of God. We would like to thank Buckner for the opportunity for getting to come once again to Honduras. Also, we would like to thank Luis. I know we thank him almost everyday, but we really are so thankful for all the hard work he has done for us this whole week. Also to Kimi for driving us all week, and for the translators for helping us communicate with the kids. It is really hard to say goodbye as many tears were shed throughout today, and more for the days to come, but we will always remember this experience for the rest of our lives.

Northlake Baptist Church in Honduras Day 5

We got to see the lovely kids at Casitas and The CTC at Las Brisas today! We were so happy! At Casitas, we had to be flexible and change our stations to stay in the big room the whole time. Surprisingly, we really liked staying in the big room better. We got to spend a lot more time with the girls, while still being able to do all the stations. We just really liked how that all worked out and plan on doing it tomorrow. Also, at the CTC at Las Brisas, we helped with the feeding program. We were glad we got to help with that. Oh, and the kids there really liked the chalk. We were all very colorful having it all over us by the end of our time there. Over all, it was a great day and tomorrow we are going to hate having to say goodbye. We would like to thank our coordinator Luis and Kimi for all their amazing work and driving this whole week.(Kimi did the driving)

Northlake Baptist Church Honduras Day 4

Today we visited the Mayan Ruins at Copan. They were very interesting, and we learned a lot. However, we missed the kids and wished we could of spent the day with them as well. We are very excited to be going back tomorrow.