Thursday, February 19

Trip Start Feb 11, 2009
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9
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Trip End Feb 22, 2009


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Friday, February 20, 2009

The team went to visit the Upako Center outside of Nairobi on Thursday.  They were excited because Upako included an orphanage, but the team found it to be the most moving and difficult day of the tour.  There was no way they could prepare for the experience of ministering to 43 AIDS orphans, most of whom are infected with the HIV virus. They were impressed with Pastor George and Pastor Francis, who give of themselves every day to help those who are hurting.

The team also found that they had to draw the line and refuse to go visit the village after an exhausting day of working with the orphans and the adults with AIDS who came for ministry.  As we had discussed before we came, there is need in Africa wherever you go and one cannot possibly meet or even emotionally assimilate all of it.  You must learn to do what you can and, when you have reached your limit, say it is time to rest and reflect.

Upako has a training center and school where they are educating ehildren and teaching women to sew so they can have some means of livelihood in a country where unemployment is 75%, corruption is rampant, and the worldwide recession has impacted daily life.  The Upako team put on skits for our team and then finished off a draining day by asking the team to go into the field to pray for a little girl who had AIDS and was not feeling well. The team recognized her as one who had performed earlier and they prayed but were touched themselves.  The other highlight was when the team asked if they could hug the women in the AIDS support group.  From all reports, there was not a dry eye in the place.

At our team meeting last night, the team tried to process the emotions and the experiences of the day, but it was impossible to do - it is a work in progress.  Yet all agreed that this trip has changed their lives forever and they received much more than they could ever give, while also realizing that they had more to give than they realized they had.

For his part, Dr. John spent the day with his publisher's work team doing some team-building profiling and exercises. Dr. J reports that the team is doing remarkably well and that they have represented their Lord, churches, families and CUBM with great distinction.

The team decided to take Friday off and Saturday is wrap-up day for the flight out on Saturday night. 
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