2019 A Year of Bridging

The Standard Gauge Railway 

stretching from Nairobi to Mombasa, Kenya

We begin 2019 with great anticipation for all that the Lord is doing among our colleagues, partners, and our family. This will be a year of great change for us all.

Over the past weekend, we traveled by train to the coast with our family. The five-hour journey cuts through the Nairobi National Park and the massive Tsavo National Park. Along the way, we saw hundreds of elephants coated in the red clay of Tsavo. It was our last opportunity to visit the Bahari Beach Hotel where we have been vacationing since Ava was only a baby. Over the years the Bahari staff have come to know our children by name, watching them grow up as they played in the pool and build castles on the beach. Living in Africa has provided us so many wonderful opportunities to explore and share in adventures with our kids, but there are also traditions and places that we have continued to return to over and over again.

Such shared experiences, people, and places are among the anchors that we have established in our lives. In order for a bridge to work, there need to be anchor points that allow the bridge to connect people from one place to another. 

We are thankful for the anchor points that God has blessed us with here in Kenya: Our family, good friends, an amazing school, a church fellowship, our pets, special places that we keep returning to, our campfire... And as we prepare to cross the bridge of 2019 we are grateful for the new anchor points that are being formed already as we prepare for our new life and ministry in Nova Scotia.

In the same way, God is at work here among our CBM Africa team and partners. Even though we cannot see the end of the road before us, we trust in the fact that God is already there. He is at the beginning and the destination of all things. Or in the words of the book of Hebrews:

"We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure..." Hebrews 6:19

A giraffe joins the skyline of Nairobi, seen from the National Park.

In Prayer

Please join us in praying for this year of bridging, for our family, for the ministry of CBM in Africa, and for the people we work with.


For our Family

We certainly appreciate you remembering our children as they enter their final semester at Rosslyn Academy and prepare for the transition to Canada.

We especially think of Emma and her friends that will be graduating from high school in May. These next months are a time of final decisions for those who are awaiting acceptance and scholarships for colleges and universities.

We pray for good homes for two of our three pets that will be remaining in Kenya.

We also covet your prayers as we seek to purchase a home, car, and all the practical necessities of life that we'll need in our new roles at the Bridgewater Baptist Church. We are very excited to join this community where we will begin to serve on July 1, 2019. We continue to pray for our congregation and for the people of Lunenburg County.

For our CBM Africa Team and Partners

We give thanks that our colleagues Gato and Anne Marie successfully moved to Uganda this past week with their children and that they have found a safe and comfortable rental home in Kampala. We pray that they are able to form new friendships and that the Lord will lead them to a welcoming church family in their area.

Erica is currently working with the ACC&S that will be assuming the administrative work in Kenya that we have been coordinating through the Wordeed International NGO that we had established several years ago. Please remember her in your prayers as she completes the requirements for closing down the NGO and helping CBM to transition the operations here to our team and partners.

We pray for the upcoming Africa Leadership Exchange that we will be hosting in Nairobi with leaders from four of our partners. Please join us in praying for the faculty of the next ALE including Dr. Ken Bellous, Dr. Carla Nelson, Dr. Julius Karanja Kimani, Dr. Darrell Bustin, Dr. Jonathan Mills, and Aaron. We pray for the preparations that are already well underway in this important capacity building initiative. We also continue to remember Jonathan who is coordinating this project. We are so thankful for his passion and expertise in the area of governance.


For the People with whom we Work

Please continue to pray for the Democratic Republic of Congo as they struggle through the aftermath of the December 2018 national election. We pray for peace as other countries are putting pressure for the political parties to come to a power-sharing agreement out of the contested election.

We especially remember the people of North Kivu who continue to be gripped by the Ebola outbreak and insecurity. We uphold our church partners and friends that are ministering at this crucial time.

Finally, please join us in continued prays for South Sudan. The UNHCR is currently concerned for 4.66 million people both internally displaced and living as refugees in the region. The map below is the most recent published figures of the displacement of people from South Sudan after five years of civil war and conflict which has taken the lives of 400,000 people.

We pray for our partner church that CBM is helping to deliver relief and minister to people who are turning to their churches for support and spiritual care.

To learn more about the situation in South Sudan, please see this in-depth report by IRIN.