On a serious note...today was nothing short of amazing. I don't know what else I thought it would be but amazing however God is always exceeding my expectations or imaginations of what might happen.

This morning the first thing we did after dealing with our intruders was go get Sue a pair of shoes to wear and throw away. I know that sounds crazy but the shoes were only $1 and rubber and we wanted them for the slums. Being that we would be walking around in raw sewage and absolute squalor for several hours, and unimaginable filth, we planned accordingly. We were so excited!!! Yes folks, I do get excited about walking around in filth for hours, believe it or not because on these occasions behind the "filth" are beautiful people who are some of the most special to me in the world. I couldn't wait to see them. But first, we had the leaders meeting...

When I came in they all got excited and gave a great applause. Keep in mind this is a team of leaders who feel like sisters to me and really...we are. :-) This is how God's family should act...how we should be. I did see Mama Gladys outside the gate as I came in before even going in and we had a great "reunion" together as we hugged. (Several of them were ones I spent more time with and these reunions were even more special...people like Mama Jane (both Mama Janes, Mama Gladys, Mama Joshua, Mama Taifa) I came in and hugged a few (though not all...as the meeting was in process) but I did go up and hug Mama Taifa (the national women's director) and she held me in an emotional embrace for a few moments and just thanked me for coming, and thanked God for bringing me back from America. After a few moments they introduced me and started by asking Sue (who was also introduced with me) to give her testimony. I told Sue that "anything can happen" including being asked to spontaneously speak and so this was such an occasion. She did an absolutely phenomenal job. They were very touched by her testimony and many shed tears as she talked. Then it was time for me to speak...

As I stood to speak, the first thing I did was let out a shout of victory!!! They all laughed and cheered with me. I said, "Ladies, you have NO IDEA how long I have waited for this moment and how much my heart has just longed to be back with you..." and just expressed my love to them for a few moments time. Then I got into my message which was about the God of the Breakthrough. I just bore my soul to these ladies, and shared some things I've gone through in the time since we were last together, and what God has taught me through it. I didn't hold anything back.

At the end of the message I said that I was sure some were in the situation I was in during previous months where I needed a miracle breakthrough and in a desperate place. My altar call for this meeting was for those people to simply stand and lift their hands to heaven, and the rest of us were going to lay hands on them and prophesy to their situation. I thought I'd have a prayer team of about half the room helping me who were already in victory. Imagine my shock when every single one of them stood and lifted their hands to heaven and loudly started crying out for a miracle. It ended up to be myself, Barb Kuert and Sue who laid hands on all of those women and cried out for their breakthrough and prophesied (spoke to) their miracle. However keep in mind they pray so loud, passionate and hard, you have to really shout to keep up with them. :-) Sue was amazed at their intensity like I knew she would be.

Jane Tembu was next to me when I gave the altar call interpreting and as I said stand and lift your hands to heaven she turned to me and said, "Pastor Deanna, I'm sorry, I can't stand anymore...I am so affected by your message because it's everything I've been dealing with in the church. I have to get down on the floor..." and with that she went down on the floor, seeking God. They cried out to God for a long time and then Mama Taifa started singing in Swahili, "There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus...no not one, no not one" and they all started singing it along with her, with everyone weeping and praising God.

At the conclusion of that time of worshipping she said, "Ladies, there was no way our speaker knew everything we are all going through, in addition to the violence that has torn up our country in the past year, many of our churches have been affected and also torn up and the majority of us are so weary it is indescribable..." then she went on to say that what we talked about was 100% tailor made by God for the leaders today and everyone was very tearful and just thanking God for what He did for us today. It was so amazing.

We were headed to minister in the slums afterwards but they asked that I stay and have lunch with them so we did. Of course it was a traditional African meal and they treated Sue and I like gold and waited on us like we were royalty which is always a bit uncomfortable however to say that their love warms and overwhelms me is the understatement...

After lunch Pastor Jane Nuthu told me that she had a team of people waiting to take Sue and I into the slums. She said, "I've asked Peter to be one of the people assisting you." (Peter is one of the Mathare "big boys" that I just bonded with so much last year - Peter, Moses, Christopher, and then one of the Mathare big girls named Gladys.) College age kids are called "big boys" and "big girls", by the way. Anyway, she told Peter I was coming last week and he could hardly wait. I couldn't wait either!

Two missionaries, Chrissy Bass and Stacy Whitman met Sue and I and drove us to Mathare church. Peter was at the gate waiting to let us in. When the car came to a stop I got out and ran around and he ran to me and grabbed me so hard he lifted me up off the ground and we embraced and were quite emotional, both of us. I thought, "boy if people didn't understand the love of Jesus and how two Christians could very purely relate to one another they might really think this is kind of strange, our reaction..." but I didn't care. I was just so glad to see him. He said, "I missed you so much!!! I couldn't wait for you to come back!" I said, "me too...I have been praying for you too all year long and I also have a huge surprise for you!!!" He said, "what?" and I said, "hold on..." and went to the back of the land rover and pulled out the gift bags, and said, "Peter, these gifts come for you with much love from some of my church people in America...these are new clothes for you." And he just looked at me with tears running down his cheeks and said, "thank you...thank you so much..." I don't think I was ever so happy many times in my life as I was to present him with those clothes. (Thank you Candy Rivera and thank you Alex Rivera! You have made an AMAZING difference in a young man's life.)

For the next few hours we walked through the Mathare slum, (which in a few hours you can't even cover the whole thing - it's huge) and as we walked with the group Peter and I talked and he showed me the slum house (or I should say hut - it's just a few feet big) that he grew up in as a small boy and then he took me to his house that burned and shared with me the news that he has just taken in two orphan boys who lost their parents in the post-election violence. He is sharing his little slum house with them that is only probably 8-10 feet big. He is such an amazing young man that while in desperate situations himself of trying to survive, he has taken in these two children to try and help them, and they are now a part of the Mathare Valley church. Much of the time Peter was talking to me I was fighting back tears. I asked him, "what is the ultimate dream for your life, Peter?" As he shared with me his goal of getting in to "next level" type of housing arrangement still in the slums and way below the poverty level, and then graduating to another home in Buru Buru and hopefully having enough to marry and start a family, I was just so humbled and moved to tears.

He led us to several slum houses of people he knows and we went into them and spent time with some people -- a single Mom living in a little space with her two kids that was probably about a 4 x 6 foot space. There were no lights inside the little shelter. It was pitch black in broad daylight. Stepping into her little space we had to wait a few moments before our eyes adjusted in the dark and we could even make out where she was sitting in the room. Her children were lying down napping on what I think was a piece of styrofoam next to her. Everything she owned, mostly papers and broken things were lying around her in the little space. Stacy stepped in and then stepped back out almost immediately in tears upon realizing the situation inside. Even missionaries don't get immune to the conditions these people are living in. In sharing with Peter, I have realized that the system really traps them into staying in these situations. Although his little few feet of shelter was burned down in January he still has to PAY FOR IT! He pays two thousand five hundred shillings a month, which is $20. (Huge amount for somebody in the slums) So he pays $20 a month even though the thing was useless. In trying to escape they also charge them astronomical amounts to try to break free. I was amazed to hear all about it and my heart was heavy riding back to the compound just digesting what I had just heard. We stepped inside another lady's little home (again a small space just a few feet by a few feet) and learned she was a single Mom raising three children, in a little cramped space and now her brother died of HIV and she also has his children in this tiny space, just trying to survive. Stepping out of her little hut Peter said he wanted to show me the local toilet those in this vicinity use. He pulled back a dirty blanked hanging there and what was behind it was a pile of rocks that people had people had used the bathroom on. Raw sewage runs everywhere in between the little shelters, and into the streets and the smell is overwhelming. Even though we got much of this on tape, the missionary said, "no matter how much you take back to America on video you can't possibly capture the stench for people to comprehend just how bad this is..."

Another lady asked us to come in and greet her elderly father who was lying in on a little cot in her shelter. We stepped in and I held his hand and said, "God bless you" in Swahili and Peter interpreted for me as I told him how honored we were to have come to his home.

Sue and I began to give out candy to all of the children and pretty soon it was like a mob scene. After one or two realized we had candy, hundreds of them came running, pushing against us, thrusting out their hands, and many saying, "don't forget me, please don't forget me." I wanted to just burst out sobbing right there but somehow held it together. When we would walk through another area behind a fence in the slums they would push their little hands through the fence and shake their hands and plead for a piece of candy. One sentence they have learned to say in English is "how are you" and over and over again they would chant together as we passed out the candy, "how are you? how are you?". I find this totally ironic. It just amazed me that in a slum these little kids, some of them just barely old enough to walk were asking Sue and I how WE were doing. Also everywhere we went the children would point and shout, "Muzungu! Muzungu!" which means, "white person" as they ran to us. It is so cute. They are amazed by us white folk and actually love when we come around...it's not a slam, it's sort of an announcement, like, "hey cool, the white ladies are here..." I don't mind beind called a muzungu at all, I consider it a term of endearment and have asked everyone to start addressing me as an American African, anyway. :-) lol

As Peter led us back with our little entourage to the Mathare church and school, we brought the remainder of our candy for the kids there. When they saw us coming they started spontaneously singing a song for Sue and I called, "Welcome, we're glad you're here!" (Again we did get this whole thing on tape. When I get back to the USA we're going to edit it and take the best clips and I'll put it here on the blog so you can see it yourself.)

Saying goodbye to the kids who were following us everywhere and not wanting us to leave was really hard. With a lump in my throat, I hugged Peter and said I'd see him tomorrow at the conference, and then got into the land rover with Sue and Chrissy and Stacy to get back to the compound. As we drove home I said to Sue, "no one will ever understand this as much as we try to explain it..." She just solemnly nodded and said, "I know."

I try as best I can though, and I hope you've gotten just a glimpse of what it's like to be with God's precious people in what is one of the most desperate places on the face of the earth.

*just a reminder I will be at the conference site the next four days and unable to blog. I will twitter occasionally but probably won't have a place to blog until we are in an airport. When we leave to come home I'll be back with details about the rest of the week, photos and video! This time I was determined to capture the "sound" of Kenya and share it with my friends. (Sound=the prayer, the worship, the voices of my friends)

Dr. Bill Kuert, Barbara Kuert, Sue Flint, Me, Heather - Bill & Barb's niece

I have updated all of the photos below with the photos that I actually took in Nakuru today. I have lots -- these are for now.

Today Sue and I got all the gifts for the ladies lined up and counted and we have about 778 or something like that. We also have gifts for the missionaries and the African women's leadership. Very exciting!!! We are now at the missionary compound getting things ready for service in the morning in Buru Burn. I have studying and praying to do tonight so...so long for now. Priority is...amazing service in the morning. Keep checking the Twitter for updates!

Love to all...

I scheduled this to pre-post before leaving for Africa:
Lord willing, we are still in Nakuru today, and by the time you read this we will more than likely have begun our journey back to the missionary compound.

We'll get a good night's sleep and hopefully be adjusted better now to the time change. I am preaching in the morning! Can't wait!

God willing, the plan today is to go with our host missionaries Bill and Barb Kuert to Nakuru. I will blog about from there it if I'm able to get internet but it's doubtful we will have internet out there which is why I have pre-scheduled these posts to clue you in as to where we are day by day . We will spend the night there in Nakuru and go back to the missionary compound tomorrow afternoon. Keep in mind we're 8 hours ahead of you who are on EST. We have probably been in Nakuru for at least 8 hours by the time you read this. (Some took this photo in Nakuru. I'll post my own pics once I have them.)

God willing, Sue and I should have arrived in London by now, and boarded our plane at Heathrow to leave for Africa at 5 AM Tampa time. (EST) We are going to be on the plane ride this morning/afternoon for about another 8 hours and 20 minutes. If you will check my Twitter on the sidebar, you should see that I've posted that we landed on the second flight. I probably also texted what we did during our layover at the airport so check it out.

In particular, I was looking forward to eating breakfast at what is both mine and Bill & Barb Kuert's (Kenya missionaries) very favorite spot at London Heathrow Airport. It's called Pret A Manger and they have THE MOST yummy croissants in the world.

By the time you read this, God willing we are on our plane and should arrive in Africa at 1:20 pm this afternoon, Tampa time. This will be 25 hours and 20 minutes that we will have traveled, 8,718 miles. When we arrive this afternoon it will be 9:30 pm in Africa and as soon as we get to the missionary compound it will be time to go to sleep to prepare to leave for Nukuru in the morning. As you can see, the time change is a little bit of a challenge but we will get adjusted.

If you are interested in keeping up with our journey in real time and not just this pre-scheduled post, just keep checking my Twitter to see where we are at. I plan to update it often especially if my internet access is very limited.

Thanks for your prayers! Only a little bit left to go if you're reading the blog this morning, so please pray it will be a very smooth ride one with NO TURBULENCE. (Remember how much I hate it, so please pray it away.) I'll text when we land in Africa.

Prescheduled post:

I wanted to do a few special things with the kids before I left for Africa. Savanna asked if we could get our nails done together yesterday morning before I left. She got a manicure and had her nails painted bright orange with designs. I'd take a photo now to show you, however she's asleep. lol

For me, I like to get something unique as far as design when there's a special occasion in my life ~ holidays, a ministry trip, etc. Most times I just have a solid color with a small design on only my ring finger. (I usually get all my designs, repairs, etc. for free since I'm a very loyal customer, which is wonderful...) So Africa was in the "special" category and I asked Lisa for a design I've had before and really liked. Here it is ~ I just love it and wanted to share it with you...

As I've mentioned before in my posts, I'm particular about my hands and taking good care of them. I want them to look and feel good as I pray with someone, shake their hand, hold their hand or reach out to comfort them.

I think it's kind of funny that one of the first things people notice or remark about my blog is the way my hands look in the blog header, holding Larry's face! If this ministry gig stops working for me, maybe I could be a hand model. lol JUST KIDDING, of course! (About the ministry being a gig, first of all, and second -- I do think my hands look nice, but not sure about model quality...I'm sure there are many more stringent requirements for it than what I do.)

Okay folks, keep checking back with Twitter for exactly what's happening in real time! Also please note if you are commenting the next week, the comments may not appear for a while time since I may not be on the internet to approve them and post them. :-) Thanks.

We will take three flights (one short one and two extremely long ones) and arrive tomorrow night in Africa. I wanted to show you the giant plane (airbus) we are traveling on in case you have never been in one. They are absolutely huge. I was amazed last time by it. Here are a few photos. The thing I like best is the fact that aside from reading my Bible and studying, sleeping, and shutting myself off by wearing my headphones and praying -- there's also non-stop 24 hour entertainment with first run movies playing constantly that each individual can choose for themselves. Everyone has their own TV and remote as you can see in the photo. There are a large selection of movies, television shows, and 24 hour news, although as previously mentioned I'm not watching news right now. There's also a GPS that constantly shows you exactly where the plane is at and how many miles you have left to go. It's so cool. I'm glad there's all this to keep a person busy on there because first, I get a little nervous when flying that long (I hate turbulence no matter how inconsequential or normal they say it is... ) and second we're just on the plane for so long. This time I'll have Sue with me so I won't be shutting myself off quite as much as we'll be talking a lot, I'm sure.

Pray for us! Pray specifically today and tomorrow for safe travel and on time flights not to mention our luggage arriving with us. Last year my luggage arrived 3 days after I did! Thankfully I had my Bible and message notes in my carry on as well as a skirt and blouse to preach in on Sunday, however I had to lean on Barb (missionary) to help me out with everything else for 3 days. She was great about it. I'd really like to have all my stuff this time though. We are getting there and leaving for Nakuru on Friday morning so I'd really like my suitcase with me for that 2 day trip.

Sue thought she had some kind of satellite thing she got from ATT that was supposed to guarantee us e-mail capability from the four corners of the earth, however it was a disappointment last night at to find out this is not the case. The ATT employee who told her it would work was incorrect. That means that I will not be able to post live updates as I had previously planned to, however I will text to my twitter which is on the right hand sidebar of this blog and will post short update messages. The two places we can definitely get on line are in the airports and at the missionary compound. However, during the four conference days (Mon-Thurs) I do not think we will have internet, therefore I'll catch up asap when I get a connection. Note that I will text right away each time we land...in Philly, London, and then Africa. So friends and regular readers...be watching and praying! I am ever so grateful for you!

With internet not being possible at all times, I have prepared and scheduled posts to publish while I'm gone each day telling you where we are scheduled to be and what we're doing. When and if I'm able to get on, I'll give additional updates. I'll signify each time whether it's a pre-scheduled post or an update in real time. If you are on the prayer partner list and I am not able to get on to do emails, just keep checking the daily schedule here and the Twitter in the sidebar. Keep in mind whenever you are praying or thinking of us...Africa is 8 hours ahead of us in the USA, on Eastern Standard Time. Love you all...

and all through the house...

I've definitely been "stirring" with "visions of Africa" dancing in my head. (SMILE) I am so excited I could scream. But I won't because it would freak my family out since they are sitting here calmly listening to music or watching football.

I've been doing things during the day today like laundry and last minute packing and picking up a few essentials I forgot yesterday...batteries for both cameras and stuff like that. Then tonight we had a family night since it was my last night here. Casey came and went with us and we went to the new mall - Shops at Wiregrass and ate at Moe's Southwestern Grill which is a family favorite. The new mall is beautiful and they had a lovely outdoor seating area where we ate and talked. Right now Dustin is putting two new CD's on my IPOD to take on the trip, and Larry has programmed some new ringtones into my new phone he got me (with unlimited texting - to talk with my family and Twitter on the trip). I am going over my stuff in my suitcase again and again making sure I haven't forgotten anything and that I have all I need in my carry on to truly survive for 2-3 days if I need to.

Don't forget I will be Twittering often while on the trip (check the right hand sidebar) and I have also pre-scheduled posts each day here on the blog while I'm gone to update you each morning as to the "plan for the day" Lord willing.

Off to look over my message notes again and talk to the Lord for a while. My reading in Streams in the Desert was AMAZING today. Let me just give you this glimpse into a few sentences of it:

"Abraham stood yet before the Lord" Genesis 18:22

The friend of God can plead with Him for others. Perhaps Abraham's height of faith and friendship seems beyond our little possibilities. Do not be discouraged, Abraham grew; so may we. He went step by step, not by great leaps.

The man whose faith has been deeply tested and who has come off victorious, is the man to whom supreme tests must come. Shall this man's faith stand forever for the strength and help of all God's people? Shall it be known through him that unfaltering faith will always prove the faithfulness of God?

Yes; and when faith has borne victoriously its uttermost test, the angel of the Lord--who? The Lord Jesus, Jehovah, He in whom "all the promises of God are yea and amen"--spoke to him, saying, "Now I know that thou fearest God." Thou hast trusted me to the uttermost. I will also trust thee; thou shalt ever be My friend, and I will bless thee, and make thee a blessing.
It is always so, and always will be. "They that are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham."

It is no small thing to be on terms of friendship with God.

Deanna again: I thought that was an amazingly relevant word for me right now. Perhaps it is for you, too?

Much love to all my dear friends...

A blog reader, Nancy Seelow from Williamsburg, Missouri sent me an amazing card in the mail last week. Nancy is a regular reader but is like many of you reading this right now who are "silent readers". You are among those who never comment here on the blog but nevertheless you are here everyday from San Francisco to Singapore. I have no idea why some of you keep reading but others of you tell me privately why you do and drop into my email box every once in a while and others of you actually into my regular mailbox, with a phone call, or in the case of two people -- in person!

Last week I received this card from Nancy. I was blown away when I opened it. She obviously purchased this card from the store however she "remade" it very creatively to personalize it just for me. The front of the original card design said, "Go for it! Shout out loud!" but she made a matching slogan that she taped across the front that says, "BREAKTHROUGH!" and then when you open it up it plays the actual song, "Shout, kick your heels up and shout!" Then, she took the photo of the plant from my blog post and printed it out and taped it on the left hand side with the slogan "New Beginnings" and then also changed the original card words to say, "or any other devil' stompin word that comes to mind. Happy rejoicing! She enclosed a lovely letter.

Nancy spent an obvious amount of time and creativity on this to celebrate and commemorate my breakthrough last month and I appreciate it so much.

Nancy is a blog reader who tirelessly prayed and fasted for me the past few months until the breakthrough came and I can't say enough about how much it meant. She was faithful to privately give me a word in due season several times. Thank you, Nancy for listening to Jesus when he woke you up on my behalf and for staying up for hours at a time to pray for me . Thank you for standing with me til' the victory came. I love you.

Folks, this is just another reason why I love blog world!

It was a great day at church and with my family. I am sorely going to miss home when I leave Wednesday for eleven days to go to Africa. Everyone knows how excited I am to go but it's always hard to leave as well. When I'm making a trip for ministry somewhere, I try to spend as much time with people as I can before I leave but it always runs out faster than I would like. This Tuesday the kids are off school so we will have some extra time together and Savanna has especially requested that she and I do something together so I've got that on the burner before I go.

We had a super day at church and are just flowing with the "Freedom" theme that God is doing in the church right now. Larry and I decided that this month's sermon series would go along with what the spirit was already doing last month and so we are preaching, "Journey to Freedom" right now. All the songs were about freedom, and it was simply an all around positive day in the house.

I had the most fun teaching my SS class as that is my absolute favorite thing to do, bar none. If you've been reading my blog for long you know I've been teaching for 26 years straight and I'm very proud of that! It's easy to do actually because it's my favorite thing to do and when you're doing something you absolutely love it never feels like work or burdensome. Right now I am teaching a series on apologetics. We are talking about answering questions such as, "How do we really know Jesus raised from the dead?" and "How do we know for a fact the Bible is true?" and things like that and specific helps in answering skeptics. The response to the class has been tremendous the past two months that I've been on the series and I really almost hate to end the series at some point because we're just enjoying it so. I've got a great substitute, Alex Rivera who will teach for me again next week continuing in the same series and then I'll pick up when I come back from Africa where I left off. But oh how I will miss my dear class!

I still have a sermon to wrap up for Africa and more arranging and packing of my bags. Sue and Candy went through our gifts for Africa today and we have over 700 that we are taking (so far). I'm sure a few more will come in tomorrow too. I can't wait! Did I mention that?

Off to finish the message and pack...I do have a full day in the office tomorrow too... so much to do before I leave and so little time so pray for me, ok?

In the midst of getting ready for my departure to Africa, not to mention Sunday service and choir tomorrow, I had an 8-hour stint at the soccer field today for Jordan. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am a soccer mom. :-) Jordan plays varsity soccer for Wesley Chapel High.

We left the house this morning to go to Sun Lake High School in Land O Lakes and I took this picture of the sky...

Savanna video taped most of the game and helped me to take pictures as well. Dustin and Casey were at the game... as well as Tom and Kirsti Garland.

Jordan's team lost both games unfortunately (this was their first) but he personally did real good. We're proud of him win or lose.

I took my work bag with me to work on stuff during the time Jordan's team was not playing. I didn't get a whole lot done, just a few little things. I'm home at this point making chicken and dumplings for tomorrow's choir dinner (covered dish dinner) and ironing clothes for tomorrow, washing clothes and then I'm going to try to wrap up another message for Africa. I am not a person that takes an extraordinary amount of time to prepare messages, however keep in mind I have to prepare six of them.

We have many things to take to Africa, as I mentioned the other day -- and now I have even more since Bill and Barb have asked me to bring a few special things for them that I didn't previously have on my list, which is fine cause' I really want to bring what they need most with me. The postage is outrageous to send anything there. Sue checked today and evidently it's $150 for us to take an extra box so I think we will try to go that route. Believe me that's nothing compared to what they would have to pay to receive a package by US Mail. There is no way all this is going to fit in a few suitcases and believe it or not I have even more I want to try to fit in to take to the ladies. This year we're going to a new level with what we take. Instead of just giving the gift (with no wrapping) to the leadership ladies, we're taking gift bags and tissue paper to really do it up right. And...this year I've added gifts (with gift bags & tissue) for ALL of the AG missionary women who will be there -- there are 14 of them in Kenya. I don't have room for the gift wrap for every lady but I figured we'll do it for the leadership. I like doing things "pretty" and I think they'll be very surprised when we pull out the beautiful gift bags to present them all the way from the USA, with jewelry, a book for minister's wives, makeup, lotion, yada yada! Then we will just give the other gifts as they are to the women present at the conference. Here I go running off at the mouth about Africa again. Can you tell I'm excited? I leave in 3 days. Amazing!!!

Got to go...the chicken is almost ready to take out of the pot and make the dumplings...

It's going to be a great day tomorrow at Northside!

p.s. I'm still totally news-less! My husband is watching hockey and I'm sayin', keep it up, babe! I'm in the Word-Worship-Prayer zone and much happier that way. I'm planning on going to Kenya newsless and maybe beyond. It's working for me.

Love to all,