Learning Center Fun - March 2009

The March Work Team from NMC spent time with the babies in the learning center at the baby center. It was a great time for the babies to get some much needed structured play time. They colored, played with play-dough, read books, played with toys, blew bubbles, etc. An activities director is one of the needs of the AGC Baby Center in the near future.

Planting Trees

We went to the Salgaa Water Project today, March 20, and planted fruit trees. We prayed over the first one as Shadrack showed us the proper way to plant in Kenya. We planted Orange trees, Mangos, Passion, Apples, strawberries. Shadrack is also planning to plant watermelons, tomatoes, and bananas. We are so blessed to have been a part of this very important step in making the baby center self-sufficient. Thank you to all of you who have been so faithfull in supporting the baby center, the water project, and the land at Salgaa.
Dan


What an amazing day! This morning we planted trees at the water project land. Then Helen Koech, the wonderful lady that we purchased the land from, had the team, Margie and Billy Fuller over for lunch. After taking the team back to the baby center, I took Sammy, Mwangi, and Shadrack out to the water project. We prayed together over the well and went over the business plan. It was a very moving time joining with the Kenyan men and getting them going on bringing water to the baby center. Thank you to Jamie and Bernie for their work on bringing this project to fruition.
The truck is at the weldng shop having it's tank installed today. We will be moving water next week!!!!
Thank you to the donors of the water project, God has blessed us with water, and the Kenyans to get the job done here! Our God is an awesome God!!

Thank you to all that donated to the water project, God has blessed your faithfulness.

Dan Jacobs

Comments from team members

We have had such a wonderful time being able to play with the babies. They all love attention so we've really tried to focus on doing things with them as a group and also separately. We've colored, read books, played with sidewalk chalk, playdough, and painted at the learning center.

The older babies like MoMo, Davey, Margie, Meshack and Moses Cheptim are so talkative. They repeat everything you say. And the newest babies, Immanuel, Jesse, John, Paul, Precious and Isaiah are all so sweet. It is so good to know the love and care they are now receiving and they are continuing to grow stronger.

We've also been working very hard organizing, cleaning and painting. More projects are planned for the coming days.

We have a great group here with us and everyone is going to have a very hard time leaving on Monday. We are trying to figure out how to fit babies in our GI 101 backpacks...

Dana Jacobs


Being at the Baby Center has been a great blessing. It's exciting to see the babies walk, talk and giggle! What an encouragement to see the new babies. It's a blessing to see the significant improvements on the building. We enjoy staying here and spending more time with the babies.

Mike and Sharron Thompson:


Tuesday evening I went to take a picture of the babies sitting all together on one blanket -- I ended up staying and sitting with them as they sang "Jesus Loves Me" and "Jesus is My Savior" under the stars. The Kenyan care-givers are so good with these babies. Praise God for He rescues the destitute and orphaned! Psalm 9:18

Rochelle Moore

Baby Fever

Baby Fever. What is it? It is the love and passion you get for the little ones at the AGC Baby Center. After seeing so many pictures and hearing so many stories, to experience it myself was amazing. I want to thank all of the people who worked so hard to build it, all the sweat and time you put into it. I enjoyed the fruits of your labor....being able to stay right there above the babies and able to go and play with them after supper. I think we got the best end of the deal! Oh, we worked at painting and building cabinets ect. But the best part was having my nose pinched, and all the children yelling "Auntie, Auntie" when I walked by. Thank you to Pastor Dave and Jamie and Jolinda for passing the fever onto us. Pastor Dave talks about the eyes of an orphan, it is true there is something about the eyes of an orphan. They tell a sad story without saying a word. If God is calling you to catch the fever, you should follow His call. It is the best thing we have experienced.

Pete and Tina Carpenter

A note from Jamie

On Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 4:08 PM, Jamie Lengacher wrote:
I wanted to take a moment and thank everyone at NMC and beyond for the support they have given to the baby center. God has taken us on an unbelievable ride over the last two years. We have went from having very little vested in this project to being heavily vested. God has taken ordinary individuals and given them a burning passion for the “throw away children” of Kenya. NMC has went from having a very small voice to having one that is being heard in board and leadership meetings. One of our goals has been to create income streams to help sustain the center within Kenya. Over the next year the water and farm projects will be monumental in reaching the goal. We should have a well drilled within the next week and be on our way planting more cash crops at the farm. Things are happening quickly and I’m honored to be a part of it. There are so many of you who need a big THANK YOU! I knew our church was generous but I never understood how generous. Even in the most depressed economic times many of us have ever seen the resources keep coming in. God is good all the time! I will keep the blog updated on the water progress. I cannot wait for that first load of water to be delivered FREE! One of my greatest pleasures during this project has been watching new team members develop “baby center fever”. Its not a bad thing but an anointing of the holy spirit on them. Watching people of all walks of life get their hands dirty for these little ones is a God thing. We have people who pay for their own trips, people who get support from others, people who sell their cows to come, people who save for years to come. The point is if you are willing He will provide. I want to thank our most recent team for making our trip one to remember. When you laugh and cry together you develop quite a friendship. I challenge those of you who are thinking of getting involved in a mission to “get in the game”. You will not be disappointed because Jesus will never disappoint you. Jamie A. Lengacher

Random thoughts about our trip to Kenya

• "Good morning sunshine!"
• Hello rain!
• Watch out they pee!!!
• Wet paint in the sink, on the floor, but none on the wall.
• "The best dip ever!!!"
• Fahrenheit to Celsius?...we don't have a clue.
• Ruffles, pink clothes, and tights are ok for boys, right???
• Auntie! Auntie! Uncle! Babu???
• Need a sedative? Try a swing.
• Fall asleep before 9pm? Hakuna matata. We'll wake you up in time for milk!!!
• They'll sleep anywhere and on anything.
• In case of emergency, we provide our own cow midwife!!!
• Climbing like monkeys, laughing like hyenas, screaming and crying like howler monkeys, but in the end they are all precious little angels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jodi Polhemus & Stephanie Wong

More bumps and dust and a cheetah!!!

This morning started out with a game drive on our way out of the park. We spotted a group of vans and went to investigate. When we got there we discovered that someone had spotted a cheetah way out in the distance playing with a tiny baby gazelle. It was fascinating to watch the cheetah toy with its prey. Then we continued on our bumpy, dusty journey on the typical roads of Kenya towards Nairobi. Tomorrow we plan to do some shopping and bargaining in the market before we catch our flight to London around 11pm. Please pray for a safe journey home and that all our flights will be on time and all our luggage will make it to Chicago.

Jodi P. and Stephanie W.

Our Goal: A Rhino!

We woke this morning to two elephants eating trees off our back porches. It was so amazing to be so close to such enormous wild animals. We then headed out for an early morning game drive in order to catch the animals at their busiest. We had good luck as we were able to see the elusive leopard lounging in a tree. Number 4 of the big 5. We saw many herds of zebra and wildebeast and various other animals. We were just heading in to breakfast when the drivers got the call that there were lions close by. We found two male and one female laying very near the road and were able to get a close look at these majestic animals. We were also able to take a lot of great pictures! We went back to relax at the hotel until the afternoon game drive. The local monkeys were up to no good and went into two of our rooms. After diligently warning everyone to not leave their door open because the monkeys would get in, Jolinda decided to just run a few doors down to borrow a transformer. When she arrived back moments later she realized she had not shut the door and walked in on a monkey sitting on her bed. He had helped himself to a sucker and mint out of her bag. Then later, after feeding the monkeys some peanuts, Brent and Joan were surprised that one of the monkeys decided to boldly open their patio door and run in to the room for the jar of peanuts. They stood there in shock and yelled but it took a guard and a rock to get the jar back. Our team was unaware that at lunch our drivers prayed that we would find a black rhino in the afternoon. And only heard about it after we very quickly found a black rhino right out in the open that afternoon. We also enjoyed a beautiful African sunset before heading in. The hotel treated us to a "Bush Dinner" by candlelight out under the stars complete with Lobster and Steak Kabobs! The Masai dancers took turn seeing how high they could jump. The one who jumped the highest was supposed to get the girl. And in this case Abigail was chosen. She respectfully declined. Pete also joined in on the dance and a great time was had by all.

Leaving the babies

We left the baby center this morning with only a few tears shed and lots of last minute hugs and kisses. It was hard to think some of us will never see these little ones again. And even those who do come back will miss those that have been adopted. Our prayers will remain with them always as we continue to pray for families to come forth to adopt them and that they know Jesus as their personal savior. We traveled to Tenwek Hospital with a stop at the Tea Hotel for lunch. The road back to the hospital is still one of the roughest in Kenya, but hope is on the horizon as there is a new road being built. It surprised the team that the area right around Tenwek is so crowded with people selling food, cooking food, etc. It was like it's own little city with a lumber yard, school, etc. The hospital even has a tailor, restaurant and power provided by a hydro electric dam. It also surprised the team that the area where the missionaries homes were was so beautiful with flowers and plants everywhere. The work that they are doing is of great value and we prayed that God would continue to bless them. We learned that they will soon be able to perform their first cardiothoracic surgery. A team is coming that will help them set up an open heart surgery suite. They will also provide education for the doctors, nurses, etc. We were able to spend some time with Jeff & Christine Stanfield, Faith Shingledecker and Anna who are missionaries at Tenwek. It was a lot of fun and a valuable experience for everyone.

Team #6 Construction Pictures

Construction continues on the baby center. Here are the photos from Ed Mosier.

Michelle's ticket

The youngest member of our team was Michelle Pippenger. She was traveling alone to Kenya while the rest of her family went to Mexico on a mission trip. When we started checking in all was going well until it came to Michelle. The airline representative checking her in said she was not booked on that flight! Thinking there must be a mistake, she pulled out her itinerary. There was, but not on the part of the airline. Michelle had been booked on an earlier flight and this flight was completely booked! The reality sunk in fast - someone was going to have to stay back and take a later flight and it wasn't going to be Michelle! The airline representative was incredibly nice and before we even had a chance to pray about it, he had his assistant working on getting Michelle on that plane. She had to make several phone calls but was finally able to find a seat. Michelle had her first miracle before we even left Chicago!

NMC Work Team #5

This team led by Jamie & Jolinda Lengacher arrived in Africa on March 16, 2007. The members of the team were: Bev & Bernie Lambright, Stacey Seitz, Verle Hochstetler, Nancy Nettrour, Kay Miller, Mike & Sharon Thompson, Peggy & Robby Bearss and Michelle Pippenger. This team was determined to help Bill finish the next phase of the baby center as he & Melody were leaving Kenya within the next month. Again there was a lot of painting to be done and the final water tower to build. The ladies attended the ladies meeting and helped with Sunday School. Of course a big highlight of the week was the time spent with the babies. They were now housed in the section of the building that the last team helped finish. There were 24 babies in all living there at the time. The babies especially enjoyed being taken outside to play. Again, this team came home on March 31st with a passion for the sweet little babies in an orphanage in Kenya. And a strong desire to see God's work continue and to increase the amount of babies that the orphanage can help survive. And not only survive but thrive!
It would be great if the team members from this trip could comment below. Also anyone with any questions about the baby center can send their question by using the comment link below.

NMC Work Team #4

On October 13th, 2006 Tom & Terry Richmond led a group back to the baby center. The team members were: Al & Alta Molebash, Jan Yoder, Jamie, Jolinda, Monica & Brittany Lengacher, Ken & Cathy Nipper and Dan Jacobs. This team was especially excited because this time there were babies living in the duplex! A full work schedule of painting, laundry, electrical, roofing and plastering walls was intermitted with time spent holding, feeding and loving 15 little babies. They also attended the Ladies Meeting as well as helping with the Street Kids Ministry in Nakuru and the local Sunday School. This team had a hard time leaving the babies but returned on October 28th with a renewed urgency to finish the baby center so more babies will find a loving home.
If you have any questions about the baby center or if you were on this team and would like to make a comment, please click on the comment button below!

NMC Work Team #3

On November 4th, 2005 Tom and Terry Richmond once again led a group of men and women from our congregation to Kenya Africa to continue the work on the baby center. This team consisted of Ken & Cathy Nipper, Verle Hochstetler, Phil Hahn, Gary Pippenger, Dan Jacobs, Floyd Miller, Harvey Miller and Linda Arch. They built 2 water towers and helped with the 1st addition of the baby center. They also did a lot of painting at the new Ngata Africa Gospel Church as well as on the other side of the duplex inside and out. This side of the duplex will be used to house the babies until the baby center is completed. They enjoyed playing games with the school children and having Chai with the workers. This team returned on November 19th with the satisfaction of hands-on involvement with the local church, providing water storage for the future baby center and preparing the duplex for the babies that would soon arrive.

NMC Work Team #2

The 2nd team arrived in Kenya on October 1st, 2004 just as the first team was preparing to go home. The team members in this group were: Al & Alta Molebash, Chris Martin, Ken & Cathy Nipper, Tersa Getas, Roy & Nancy Hershberger and Tim Spencer. This team continued the work on the footprint of the baby center. As well as lots and lots of painting on the duplex to prepare it for Bill & Melody to live in. They had the painstaking job of painting in the grout lines of the outside stonework as well as the ironwork in the windows. They also were able to minister to the pre-school children as well as attend the ladies meeting. Although there were no babies yet at the baby center the team was able to find plenty of local children to shower God's love upon! Tom and Terry returned home with this team on October 16th. God's plan to care for Kenyan orphans, partly thru the sacrifice and hard work of the people in our congregation, had begun to take shape in the solid foundation of the baby center that was yet to come.
**We would love it if members of this team would like to comment on this trip! Also if there are any questions please use the comment section below.