Wednesday and Thursday have been spent celebrating with Crossroads Academy, Vipingo! Wednesday we spent the day out and about with the Vipingo graduates. They got to have their fun day. Another great Mombasa City tour. Site seeing along the way, a walking tour at Fort Jesus and Old Town Mombasa, taking in the view at the port, pizza lunch on the bus, and a shopping spree at the store. A day full of fun and new experiences! Thursday was Graduation Day! We got to be a part of a wonderful ceremony celebrating their achievements. And as we said the other day we want to acknowledge that this was a ..read more

Monday and Tuesday we have spent celebrating with New Life Academy, Bomani! Monday was graduation day! We got to be a part of a wonderful ceremony celebrating their achievements. After a crazy year in education these kids worked hard to do well and complete grade 8. Thank you to the teachers, staff, and sponsors for the fantastic support you have given these kids!! Tuesday, the graduates were treated to a day of fun. A Mombasa City tour arranged by our very own O’Neal Nyanje! Getting on a bus to leave their village is an experience the students were so excited about. Site seeing along the way ..read more

Preparing for their Math Exam. Just like for many many students in the states, our Kenyan brothers and sisters have had a school year that has looked very different. And like so many of us, they have taken different and done their very best with it! Their school term is wrapping up and Grade 4 and 8 will be sitting for their national exams on March 22nd. The new school year begins in January, but before then we have almost 100 students finishing primary school and high school that will be taking national exams that will determine their next steps. 55 students finishing Grade 8 are sitting f ..read more

A couple of team members share some moments from the last few days… Jeananne shares: I was so touched by the Life Spring Rescue Center in Vipingo! The home they have made for babies to five year olds is amazing. The fact that children have been traumatized and sometimes abandoned have such loving care is a blessing. The children are fed, clothed, have a home and most of all are loved on!! Some new toys were given and I know they will be excited to play with them! Sue B shares: The staff at both schools are so amazing! Hearing their individual stories is fascinating. What you may think are ..read more

As you may have seen on our Fox River Missions Facebook Page (which you should definitely follow, if you’re not already - many more updates there!), our 2023 Kenya Team had very smooth travels to Kenya. Flights were relatively on time, not much turbulence, and all luggage arrived! Thank God for easy travel! Sunday was spent in orientation, learning about our mission here, getting our first sights and sounds in this new culture, and preparing our supplies for the rest of the trip. And of course, after 24 hours of travel, and a day of new experiences, we were all in need of some serious sleep. O ..read more

What a trip! I’m writing this as we are on our final flight from Miami to Chicago. Nicaragua is a beautiful place full of passionate and friendly people. We experienced many things but a couple things stood out to me the most. First, I was inspired by the people of the church in La Esmerelda. They love Jesus and their community passionately. They all embrace their part of Jesus’ mission in their community. I heard so many stories from the Nicas that started like this “I was raised in a Christian home…I accepted Jesus at a young age…I started serving in the church”. It was beautiful to see the ..read more

Today was our last day here in La Esmeralda… we filled it with lots of joy and laughter (and maybe a little bit of competitive anger)! We gathered everyone and broke into teams, for a day of team challenges. From tug of war to some intense jenga the competition was on! It was a great way to end our week here on the mountain. We have one last day with our friends as we go to see a little bit more of Nicaragua. Pray for us as we travel and say our goodbyes. It’s never easy to say bye to new found friends ..read more

Thursday one of last days here in La Esmeralda… We started our day with a delicious breakfast. To our delight, they served pancakes & fresh fruit and they also put out the Nutella again as a special treat! After filling our bellies, we headed to our church in La Esmeralda for our third and final VBS. We are really getting good at this now! The music team lead us in high energy songs. The craft team decorated bucket hats, the sports team played fun games and we can’t forget the Bible story of David & Goliath. Spending one on one time with the people of Nicaragua has been life changing ..read more

We spent the day handing out the hygiene packs that were put together yesterday. Here is a student perspective… Today we handed out our hygiene packs that we made yesterday. We went to two places. The first place we went to was Las Nubes.  We broke into groups and we went to multiple homes. One home that stood out to me was when we gave it to them, they immediately started crying tears of happiness. They really took in our prayer even though they couldn’t understand it since it was in English. I had a moment where I thought how meaningful these bags actually were and how impactful they a ..read more

The first couple of days we have spent traveling, settling in, and experiencing new things. Friday was a long day of travel. A delayed flight and some baggage stuck at customs put us a couple hours behind our schedule. We stayed the night as we headed up to La Esmeralda so we could finish the trip in the daylight. A good meal, showers and a bed did us well! Saturday we finished our travel into La Esmeralda and were greeted by our partners. We settled in and started to get to know the team. We ended our night at youth group and sharing stories after dinner. Sunday morning we got started early s ..read more