Minke Family Mission Trip

Jambo!

As a missions pastor and past missionary, I know the value of inviting others in when we are moving on mission. God meant for us to do life in community which allows us to stay strong, accountable and encouraged.

As a family, we value God's mission and have always sought to lead our family well in light of this. One part of this is going somewhere crossculturally to serve, learn from and encourage others that are different from us. Adam and I have both had life-changing experiences while living and serving overseas. We have always dreamed of journeying with our kids one day to do this together.

You may know that in 2020 we were set to go on our first family mission trip with our church. We were going with one of our long-time partners in Haiti. We had done months of training and had raised all our funds, but then the pandemic shut everything down and we were unable to go. Things politically are still not settled in Haiti so we have not been able to rekindle that mission trip. We considered the other major partners our church supports but there were challenges there as well. Our partner in Uganda doesn't allow minors to be guests on campus (for insurance reasons) so we couldn't go there. Visiting our partners in Rwanda was an option but it was more expensive and would be less ideal for our young family due to the large amounts of driving each day. So, we decided to go to a place that is familiar and so special to both Adam and me - Kenya!

Kenya is where we met. Adam served there 6 months on an internship with Samaritan's Purse and I was there 8 of my 10 years in Africa while working with World Concern. We have so many great connections and deep relationships making this a great place to take our family. Besides, Makena's name came from Kenya (it means the Joyous One) so now she will see the place that inspired her name!

We will be there for a full month! We will leave July 25th with a layover in Dubai and then be in Kenya July 27th to August 28th. We will start the trip big with a very long flight - Seattle to Dubai and with a 19-hour layover so time to check out this crazy city and even go up the tallest building in the world!

Once in Kenya, we will spend a few days getting adjusted to the new time zone and then start with our orientation with World Concern. We will then travel to Narok with some of my favourite staff to spend about 4-5 days among the beautiful Maasai people which is who I first worked with when I started with World Concern. We will be visiting some communities I know well and see how they are doing and take that opportunity to show Makena a traditional Maasai home (manyatta) and how life is different in that very traditional culture. We will spend some time in a rural school that I helped start, offering words of encouragement for students and staff and then on Sunday, August 6th we will be sharing the message at a local Maasai church.

We will wrap up our time in that part of the country with a few days on safari at the world-renowned Maasai Mara with hopes of spotting the Great Migration (an event where 1.5 million wildebeest and zebra cross over from Tanzania to Kenya- actually listed as one of the 7 Wonders of the Natural World). Even if we don't catch the migration we will see plenty of the stunning great plains animals while we go on game rides along the beautiful savannah.

Next, we will spend 10 days or so in the capital city of Nairobi where we will make our way to various museums and attractions while also visiting more work of World Concern as well as International Needs (one of our church partners). This will allow us to visit a slum area, giving Makena yet another perspective on how life is different for so many others. We will visit our old church and meet up with dear friends. Our time in Nairobi is a bit more fluid but we are confident the time will be used well as we have great connections there.

Our final week there will be on the Coast where Adam lived and spent the majority of his internship. We will take the new train to Mombassa and stay for 3 nights in Old Town. A part of Kenya that is rich in history and culture. It is a very unique part of Kenya because of its influences from the Arab and Indian traders. While there we will learn about their history of trade and conquest since the 1st Century. Among other things, we will visit Fort Jesus, a Unesco World Heritage treasure.

We will also connect with Samaratin's Purse to see Adam's past colleagues and then one day will be spent with Compassion Kenya staff as we go to spend the day with our sponsored child who we last met in person on our honeymoon in 2013. He is now finishing high school so we can't wait to see how he has grown and matured and also see how his family has been doing since the sponsorship was started in 2012. This is also in the same area where Adam used to work.

We will wrap up our time on the coast on Tiwi Beach, near where we spent our honeymoon over 10 years ago!

That is our month in short! As we get closer and of course get into it, the story will start to fill in and likely even change. You can hear more and follow along by following our blog:

minkefamily.wordpress.com

We know we will need to be flexible and open-minded. We need to work together and trust God is going before us. There will be great days and probably some hard days as we adjust and deal with the various cultural and environmental differences. Also, travelling with a baby won't make it easy but we are willing to do what it takes make this happen. We know God is going to write an amazing story from this time as we enter in and see what He has for us and those we will encounter!