Appleseed Travel Journal

As Brooks and I head out today for Thailand (more about that in later posts) I thought I would offer something that might be of use to you:

My five all-time top tips for the traveler/adventurer:

1. Travel light. Okay, we don’t actually do this, but it sounds like great advice. I always think it would be awesome to travel with just a toothbrush and an extra pair of boxer shorts. But, we just don’t. We need food for Brooks’ special diet, clothes for all climates (we seem to typically go from the mountains of Europe to the equator in Africa all in one trip), backups and then more backups for my computer, ipad, iphones, cords, etc, and enough vitamin pills to supply our local CVS drug store. Somehow we also seem to be carrying various other miscellaneous items: sanitary pads for girls, training manuals (paper is heavy, by the way), phones and computers to give to church planting leaders, and, well, you get the idea.

   So, we really don’t travel light. But, seriously, it does sound like an excellent idea!

2. Be flexible. This is for real, and it really is the best travel tip I have to offer. You just HAVE to be flexible because, in the wisdom and plan of God, stuff… just… happens. The flight is late or maybe not coming until tomorrow despite the fact that you are in the airport with nowhere to go. The luggage went one way while you went the other way. The car they pick you up in has a flat tire within five minutes. The hotel says someone will meet you at the airport, and they are nowhere to be found. Be flexible. It will all work out. If you are not ready to be flexible you will have a coronary in short order. It’s just not worth it. But if you are willing go with the flow, you just may have a significant adventure along the way.

3. Enjoy the one you’re with. More to the point, make sure you travel with someone that you DO enjoy. Because, while you are being flexible (point number two) you will spend a lot of unexpected time with that person. And, beyond that, all kinds of decisions will be made along the way. Shall we go here or there, eat here or there, see that person or the other person, stay one night or two? You’ve just got to get along. But, let’s aim higher, and travel with someone you just love being with.

4. Have fun. Your experiences may exceed what you thought possible… or not. You may find a five-star resort that disappoints, or you may end up at a one-star joint that surprises you because it has hot water and a good mosquito net. Either way, the good things of God and life can be found. Enjoy every moment.

5. Based on number 4, my final tip is… just do it. Take the travel plunge. Especially if God is leading in any way, whether it is as a vocation, calling, or recreation… just do it. There are adventures out there that you can never experience from the couch at home.

Thank you for making OUR travels possible as we head for this upcoming leadership meeting of an international mission organization.

The two day conference with women in Kakamega took a huge turn and was undoubtedly Holy Spirit inspired. Much of our time together was to speak into these female church planting leaders their worth, importance and value in the discipleship movements in Uganda and Kenya. Although receptive and willing, there is the ongoing belief that “women are the weaker vessel,” so therefore can only do so much or go so far. I’m shocked by this belief as clearly women (rural and in the cities)—typically—are the ones who have the determination, the strength, the tenacity to constantly move forward if for no other reason than to feed and school their children.

We had barely gotten into our material when it became clear that every single woman in that room (8 Ugandans and 35 Kenyans) was discipling at least one if not many other women, gathering them into simple house churches teaching and sharing with them the word of God. One woman, Eunice, has TWENTY house churches right now! BUT, not one of these women had ever baptized even one person.

We use the scripture in Matthew 28… ¹⁸ Jesus came and told his disciples, 'I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'

These women are going and they are making disciples, but they all felt that they needed to wait for a man to come and baptize the new disciples. Many times, there is no man around who is willing or able to do this job, so the new disciple goes without being baptized. It wasn’t five minutes before Roger (and two of the other church planting men there) launched into all the ways Jesus used and interacted with women to accomplish his purposes. Not forgetting, of course, Mary, who Jesus specifically told to go and tell the others. The women clearly embraced a “Why not us?” mentality, especially because men were the ones inviting them into a new mindset. Roger asked them, “Who has a disciple nearby who can come tomorrow to be baptized?” (The women were from as far away as northern Uganda—12 hours away and also Kenyan villages very far away within Kakamega County). Even so, many of them raised their hands.

So, the next morning…we all trekked down from our meeting place about 20 minutes away to a nearby stream…in the rain…and this is what happened:

I still don’t know exactly how many were baptized, but I do know that on the trek back while stuffed into a one room, red brick mud house with 20 other women and babies during a huge downpour, one woman told me this:

“I am so encouraged on this day. I have never known I could do these things. We, as Kenyan women, believe that we must always stay behind, always work hard, but do what the man says and we are not allowed certain things. I have two house churches. None of those people have been baptized. I am going back and with those 25 people I will teach them that to obey Jesus they must be baptized and I am the one.”

Just some of the very inspiring women in the discipleship making movement in East Africa:

I also had the opportunity to teach about hygiene, female issues and to distribute 26 washable sanitary pad kits to the women. Wherever we go, whenever I have the great privilege to be the one to bring these from the ladies in the US who are making them, the gratitude and appreciation is really overwhelming. Their smiles and thank you’s are so genuine and so heartfelt. To experience love on such a personal, practical level speaks volumes to them about how much God loves them.