Hello folks and welcome to the blogspot of Lael and Cheryl. Many of you know and others may not that on Wednesday marked the beginning of a three month sabbatical for us!
We had quite an emotional Wednesday evening before we left Harlan, with out last service at the church! God moved beautifully at the prayer service, but then the parting was so sad. I am ready to permanantly ban farewells! Thanks so much to all of you that were there and the bountiful gracious words!
We headed to Kenya with a team of 15 (8 from Sunrise Chapel, Brian and Margaret King from GA, Wayne and Martha Weaver from Millersburg, OH, Kilonzi Marcus Miller and Gianna Stutzman form NC, and Lyndsi Stoltzfus from NY) on May 5th to minister with ACMI, CCI, and Bishop Henry Mulandi through events including Leaders Alive Kenya, Prison Ministry, Open Air Crusades, School Ministry, and also preaching at various churches. We were very busy and it was a very successful effort as many came to Christ, and other lives were encouraged and stregthened in the faith, including ours in a great way. Thanks to a great team for their HARD WORK! There were great messages preached, fabulous skits/dramas put on, and great singing and testimonies shared, tied together with some great sharing time!
I'd love to see many of the team to post their comments on this below or in reply!
We then left for the safari trip at Massai Mara! This proved to be one of the best (if not the best) sighting trips Cheryl and I have ever seen as far as abundance of animals go. The rare Leopard that we had only seen a glimpse of once before; we followed one for 15-20 minutes, as well as we saw another one with his freshly killed Thompson gazelle in a tree.
We have never sen a Rhino before, but we saw one up close and personal as he charged us. Oh my, what a rush! They are not the friendliest of fellows! We were also charged a fairly good distance by a lone Cape Buffalo, which we knew that when they are alone they are very dangerous. Martha Weaver enjoyed those chases tremendously, right Martha!!!!!
Other rarities included seeing a freshly killed Zebra being devoured by two female lions, many lion sightings including a pride of 19 (we are following them closely to see a kill.
On Wednesday morning we had a difficult time saying goodbye to the group as they all left us except for Wayne and Martha (who left on Thursday afternoon for Egypt). We had a very good and personal time with the Sunrisers at our tent, praying together and blessing each other in the Lord! Even though we are looking SO forward to this time, leaving those closest to us is always so difficult. We have good confidence that the thing the Lord is doing at home will continue under the leadership team and the many whose lives are being gloriously changed and transformed in Him.
Cheryl and I started our quest to read the Bible through in 3 months today and will contine daily. That is very exciting. Our plan is to read it in chronological order. The plan to write the book has a bit of a delay with some bug on the computer and coupled with the lack of constant electricity. That should begin tomorrow!
Today was a cool day that commanded wearing of outer garments to be outside and especially in the evening.
We are here at the beautiful Camp Kichakanee, a tented camp with a beautiful lodge that is currently incomplete but being built by Bishop Henry Mulandi! The birds perform an absolute magnificent orchestra all day and night for us just outside our facility! I tried to count how many different voices I heard by them and finally just laughed. The instrument and percussions are being caried out at night as the hyenas perform the brass and the drums and bass guitar are played by the lions absolutely every night so far, some as close as 200 yards and up to a mile away! It's so awesome. Both of us are in our glory!
The tentative schedule has us here at Camp Kichakanee through the 29th, then heading to Nakuru Park, followed by Sweetwater Park with Merle and Sue Beachy, my sister who has been serving here for many years, for a total of three days. A few of those days may have faced interuption because of Merle's mother's death. Please pray for them!
On June 2, we are flying to Israel to spend an anticipated full month there to walk in the footsteps of our blessed Jesus. We are looking so forward to that and believe that the Lord has even more good refreshing there for us! My Lord!
The month of July is being planned to spend on the Eastern part of the nation, being based out of Catlett, VA with my brother Joel and his family, and traveling to Chincoteague Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylavania with Cheryl's grandparents as well as my brother Ervin.
The time will be consumated with the annual camping trip at the home farm with my family in August, a time we always look forward to and appreciate immensely!
Please pray for us that the plan of God will be accomplished in every par of us; body, soul, and spirit!
Love to all, Lael and Cheryl
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