Not our will for day one

Hi friends!

We arrived safely in Kenya but short three of our checked bags.  Our morning was rocked as my wife, Kristin, learned her mom died shortly after we arrived in Kenya.  Her mom was 75 and was seemingly in perfect health.  We are in shock.  It doesn't seem real but Kristin is back on a plane flying through Amsterdam and then Seattle before arriving in San Jose, CA to help provide her dad with some support.  I had an amazing mother-in-law.  My family was very blessed and this is so surreal.  Please pray for Kristin as she travels back home and for my children (Bryce and Liz) as this is the first grandparent they have lost.  Please also pray for Bruce who is currently on an airplane between Lusaka - Zambia and Nairobi - Kenya.  Bruce accomplished his mission in Zambia.  He wrote me - "We worked till dark and got the playground 90% done today and I fly out at 12:15 in the morning to head to Kenya. Bart's team will have an easy finish up day Tuesday before they head to Mongu to work there."

Unlike the Zambia project being ahead of schedule, we are behind in Kenya.  We thought we'd have a half day yesterday to work but as the day played out we only had about an hour until dark.  The team rallied and wanted to get some work in before breakfast (Ann's idea) so we'll be on the playground site at 6:50 AM.  I should be asleep but I can't shake the disappointment and severe grief over losing my awesome 2nd mom.  I'm also so sad my wife has to go through this.

On a very positive note, everyone on the team is in good health.  We are being treated well and are getting along wonderfully.  We had a good first night of sharing before people crashed about 9:30 local time.  Hopefully when Bruce arrives here in a few hours we'll find that our missing bags have also arrived.  The bags contain many needed tools which will be difficult to replace.  On our journey here God provided many opportunities to share what we were coming to do.  The shirts we had on that said PLAYGROUND RESCUE TEAM - KENYA 2014 opened many doors.  I've never had so many good discussions on a trip like this.  We hadn't even checked our bags and we were already being asked questions.  We even had one lady from Chicago visiting relatives in Istanbul who wanted to donate cash to one of our team members for the project. This came after a few minute conversation Deb had with her on the bus from the airplane to the terminal in Istanbul..We were pressed to catch our next flight as we had a tight window so we thanked her and gave her a Kids Alive brochure. We trust that seeds were planted for Christ's Kingdom and Kids Alive.

Thanks again for sending us and for praying for us.

-Rich