First Blog EVER

Hello cyberspace gurus! You have no idea what a miracle it is that I am actually contributing to this blog under the intense tutoring of Cayla Newkirk! My name is Jamye Richmond and I am the AARP representative to the Mombasa mission team.  To say that I am the oldest member of the team is a serious understatement but I am proof that God can use anyone, no matter what their stage of life.  If you are going to quote my age, you have to precede it by saying loudly and with conviction, ONLY 57 years old.  Just don't call me Memaw! 

I grew up in Tyler, Texas and spent most of my waking hours at First Baptist Church, Tyler.  That church was truly a mission-minded church in a sense that few can understand.  I grew up knowing about missions and loving missions and going on mission trips and working in mission vacation Bible schools.  I can't explain the heritage of missions that I knew from infancy because of that church.  Fast forward through the last 50 years and I have had continual joy in learning about missions and being involved in missions ministry through many churches and organizations.  God put that on my heart from childhood and it remains my passion today.

Now to the present, I am your relatively normal wife, mother of three grown children, mother-in-law to the most awesome son-in-law and daughter-in-law, and teacher of 7th grade Texas history.  I also love taking 8th graders to Washington, DC every year and high school students to New York and Europe. I love history!  I have had a dream of going on a mission trip to somewhere, anywhere, in Africa for over 30 years and had really pursued that possibility for the last 5 years with no success until now.  Honestly, I was aware of this mission trip but thought it was limited to college age students so after months of knowing the group was going, I was shocked to find out that even I could be a part of it.  God has miraculously provided the support of my husband and children and friends.  My faith is bolstered every day by the prayers and encouragement of my church and team members.

I would request your prayer support in trusting God to provide the finances, energy, strength to endure the long flights, words of testimony, the drive to prepare for what God has ahead, safety and health, and quick recovery to come back to the start of a new school year.  I want to be ready to speak words from the heart of God and share His love with all I encounter.  Praise to the Lord for knowing the desires of my heart and providing the fulfillment of those dreams!

"Be still and know that I am God,"

God is so good & works in his own time. 
I wanted to inform all of you of the exciting news that happened for our team last Friday. We PURCHASED our PLANE tickets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
               The story behind it is; We were suppose to purchase them on the first of June, but as a team, we did not have enough money (we were down by a good $5,000ish). Our flight agency worked with us to push back the due day by 1 week, but still that was a lot of money to come up with. My heart was racing, I had to figure out what to do. Wait, I had to figure out what to do? I stopped and focused. Focused on the team, on praying, on calling each one of them, and most importantly I communicated to them what we had to come up with. The funny thing is, on any other day, they all would not of answered their phone's. Today everyone of them answered their phone's. I had them praying, we started blogging, and it was on. On Thursday(June 7th) I was crunching numbers every which way. I kept coming up short. :(  It was so frustrating, so I added and subtracted again......... we were short. I called Rachel, one of Imani's founders, who was helping me book the tickets. We added and crunched the numbers again. We kept coming with an amount closer and closer. Ten minutes after us doing our math, she asked me if I took out the cost of our down payment. I said, "no." With that we saw we had enough, just enough. However, I did not want to get my hopes up, but while I was on the phone with Rachel, tears filled my eyes. I cried, tears of joy, tears of disbelief, tears just filled my eyes. God truly does provided on his own time. The money for our tickets, was already there. God never ceases to AMAZE me!
<3 

Hello My name is Kayla Grimmett. I am a Junior at Texas Woman's University in Denton.It's a funny story how God put going to Kenya in my life. I go to church with Cayla, and it was around the time that we were learning about mission opportunites for the summer. I was praying about going on a couple. About 2 weeks later I remember hearing about Cayla might be going back to Kenya this year. I asked her one morning before life groups if she was going back to Kenya this year, and she goes Do you want to go? She started talking about the trip last summer, and I felt the Lord saying I want you to go to Kenya!!!!  Im very excited about the opportunity that God has put on my heart to go to Kenya this summer with 11 beautiful Sisters In Christ. I come into a relationship with Jesus when i was nine years old :) The Lord put Africa on my heart when i was high school. I've always wanted to go on a mission trip, and i'm very blessed to finally get the opportunity to go! Jesus has been preparing our hearts for this for a long time. I can't wait to see what the Lord is doing over there, and the people we are going to meet. Please keep us in your prayers as we go Mombasa, Kenya. Jesus is so good!



Sarah Simpson

Hey guys!! I am the one you all hear about but never see. =)
I live in Aledo which is about 30 minutes outside of Fort Worth, and I go to school at Tarleton State University.  I was saved when I was in the 3rd grade, but did not truely understand what that meant until I was in high school, and that is where I began my walk and relationship with God.  Now, how Africa was placed on my heart began when my two good friends went with Jenny and Cayla to Kenya last summer.  They came back and told me all about it and my heart just craved to go there and meet all the wonderful people.  I wondered if Africa was what God intended for me, so I began to pray.  Throught various situations, Africa was placed in front of me, then I was given Jenny's number which led me to this team of fabulous ladies! This will be my first mission trip outside of the country and third over all, and I am loving the journey God has had for me in just preparing for this trip.  I am very excited about going to Kenya with you all, and getting to know you! I know that God has us in His hands and that He will be with us every step of the way! Can't wait!!

First thing is my name,
Mary Allyson Clements
or Mary -Allyson, Mary, Allyson, Ally (:

ANYWays...

I am a Sophmore now at Texas Woman's University
and will be spending the portion of my summer in Mombasa, Kenya. Woot! Woot!

I hope to get out of the experience some heart shaping for the road ahead but there has already been much change in the making!

When I first heard of the mission opportunities for the college students I was fairly new to the church as well as the college life. The idea of Mission work had my interest but never occured to me as possible or proabable at that point in time.

But God has a way of changing things!!!

Cayla Newkirk announced the "hopeful" plans to lead a group of 12 to Africa in the time ahead. It was so ironic, because there was nothing about my current situation that could point to me being a part of THIS... But it was very much imbedded in my heart first word of departure. The details were few, and I was uncertain as to why I had this so heavily laid on my heart... so I prayed and prayed and then called my parents to pray for Cayla, for the people of Mombasa, and for those who were going. At the time it did not occur to me that there was room for one more! About a week later I ran into Cayla and talked to her and told her that it was constantly in prayer... she almost broke down when I asked if I could go!

At the begining,
money was difficult to come by as I began to work my new job in Denton, it occured to me that what was affordable in highschool began to become too much in college. I began to depend on my parents just to make my car payment, feeling hopeless as my mother would slip my a $20 for gas when I visited, thinking the only way to make any money for the trip was to sell my car... but the failed attempt led to the testimony that I am currently living and sharing.
I mention this because money has a way of appearing to be an "obstacle" when it really has no limit to Gods plan in our lives.
Sure enough God provided and still is providing!! ... not only for the current expenses but even more rewarding ... for KENYA!



Since then,
there has been SO much change! Good and Bad, but all necessary.
I still work as a Waitress at Pour House Sports Grill where I am currently spending most of my days and nights to work for the GREAT trip ahead! From relying on my parents to cover my car payment... to not only paying for car, gas, rent, but ... Kenya!!

When I tell you it's a miracle, Believe it! I know that "I can do ALL things through Christ which strengtheneth me" it is a blessing to have been chosen for an experience like this and I pray that God's Will will be done.

After much appreciated support from my family, friends, and many other people I now have approx. $500 more to go, excluding the cost of shots and spending money while we are there.

My goal is to reach $1,000 in the next 2 months ahead... but God has been going Above & Beyond every goal that i've set for the month. AMEN!!!

I know the team is one Chosen for the work God has set forth and we're blessed to have people interested and invested to his work and our well being.
Thank You for those who have supported financially, it has given much needed boosts in the journey to get there. But more importantly I Thank those who have prayed for us, individually. Thankyou!!! It has done so much good and it matters! Every prayer has blessed. Please pray for the ones who are living in Mombasa, Kenya and their safety and well being as well.
I pray that there will be a different outlook on life as we return to the "safety" of home.
That we will begin to see people in a entirely new vision... this trip has opened my heart to so many different walks of life that in past time never caught my attention.

At the start I saw this calling with the purpose to serve those in Kenya, to share the love of Christ... and I still do! But what it has evolved into is the chance to be changed from the inside out, that possibly these children will have more of an impact on us then we will on them.

The work of heart is taking place in all of us and I am confident that it will not end as we board the plane back home. The fact of the matter is, we will serve if its here or across seas, we will show the love of God regardless of where we're at! This is something completely new to me, No clue what to expect, and still doubtless that it is part of a greater plan at hand!

Thank You, Jesus!!

Keep the team in your Prayers
& those that we will be serving
Pray for soft and open hearts in us ALL

I Love You.

Your Friend, always.

          -Allyson 

Danielle Carty

No One Like You by Danielle Carty
Falling into a pile of leaves...
Laughter filling the air with joy...
Father, I picture You and I doing just this...
Even after a night full of darkness...
You bring the light in the morning...
And Love to bring joy to the most tender heart.

Running into Your comforting arms...
Full of warmth and compassion...
Father, I picture this...
Even after the coldest of nights...
A night filled with terrors and tears...
You bring warmth as if it's a summers night...
And love and understanding to a fragile heart.

Hiding under Your protection...
When the rain starts to fall...
Father, I picture You painting...
A rainbow across the sky...
When the rain begins to stop...
You bring mercy and hope...
And cause the sinner to have a burning desire...
to repent and turn to You.

Spending time with You...
In a summer full of free time...
Even after distractions of this world...
You bring patience as You wait on us...
And You would never abandon us...
Father, there is no one like You.
You are everything good.

        I love starting whatever I write with a story or a poem of some sort. The poem above depicts only a small glimpse of God's love for us and the reason why my heart longs to go to Africa to show them the same love God shows us. To me, it is not simply a vacation, as even some claim it is with how much it costs. Honestly, when I sit down to think about Africa as it is quickly approaching it terrifies me. The excitement and the unknown of what I have only seen on TV or read about in articles becoming reality for a week and a half is nerve racking for me. This will be my first mission trip. I strongly believe God will provide for me to go if it is in His will. But as great as He is, it will not just start raining money because He loves to work through His children in His timing. Though as deadlines are quickly approaching and I am still what seems way behind in my own eyes, I can rest assure that God has a greater plan and that this will help in growing my faith. I would love to paint a background of my story or testimony, but I do not want to take up too much space in this blog. As you can tell, I LOVE to write. Even more so...God's love for me overwhelms me everyday and this blog I dedicate to His love. For without His Love I would not be here today. This summer I have been learning just how much my focus needs to stay on Jesus and how much more I need to spend time with His Holy Spirit as my counselor. Thank you so much for everyone's prayers during this stressful time of trusting that God will provide. Message me on Facebook if you have any more questions and I would love to answer them. Thanks again!

"You are God's children whom He loves, so try to be like Him. Live a life of love just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us as a sweet smelling sacrifice to God."(Ephesians 5:1-2)

Hey guys,

 So let me give you a little background like the rest of these girls before I explain the reason behind my passion for Africa… I was born in Roanoke, Virginia then moved to San Antonio, Texas then Lakeland, Florida then back to San Antonio, Texas again… Now my story on Africa starts about 6 years ago in 2006, I was 14 years old at this point and I had the unbelievable pleasure of being able to go to Uganda and Kenya, Africa with my family. The main purpose of this trip was a pastor’s convention my dad spoke at in one of the local in Mbale, Uganda (which ended up being a very sweet service filled with many of the locals as well as all the pastors that this meeting was originally for). While we were there, we were able to visit different orphanages nearby - I really wish I could paint you a picture of these children, they were well taken care of, but nonetheless, my heart broke for them. It was in one of these orphanages that I met a little boy who had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Those of you that know what this is, know that children diagnosed with this live out an extremely difficult life… I’ll admit I couldn’t help but later cry from seeing this sweet boy in pain and knowing that there was nothing I could do to help him….  This brief moment I had with him has impacted me on a level I cannot easily explain to you - (and as silly or crazy as this may sound) it is this moment that is a big reason as to why I am currently enrolled in Texas Woman’s University, where I am studying to become (God willing) a “Child Development major in preparation for a Doctor of Physical Therapy.” The first year after I graduate, it is my goal to work with “doctors without borders,” and help physically disabled children all over Africa… I realize that it will be too late to help that specific little boy I met, but it is not to late to help other physically disabled children in the future. Ever since that first trip to Africa, I have held a constant desire to return. God so sweetly answered my prayers (much quicker than I ever imaged), when I was introduced to Cayla Newkirk and realized that she was leading a group to Mombasa, Kenya July 31- August 16. When asked if I would be interested in going, I immediately said yes (looking back now, it probably would have been a good idea to run it by my parents first)… I felt like God blessed me yet again when I later learned that we will be able to help children in both a local school AND clinic there (I am hoping to get a little glance on what my future will be like when we go into this clinic)… While I will admit I still worry about expenses, I realize that if this is God’s plan, He will provide a way made for me to go… I am so excited to see everything God is going to do with our group, and feel extremely blessed for this opportunity. If you guys have any questions for me about my heart or purpose on this trip, send me an message through Facebook and I will give you my cell number and you can fire away with any questions…. If you haven’t been able to tell from what you have read so far… I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY!

God bless,

Rachel  

Kaitlyn Walker

Hello! My name is Kaitlyn and I am going to tell you a little about myself.
I was born in Providence, RI and moved to Texas when I was about 7 years old. I moved to a very small town called Comanche, TX and loved it! Although I love Rhode Island very much, and miss my family there everyday, I LOVE being a Texan! I grew up most of my life in a Catholic home. I was Christened as a baby and went through my First Communion. When we moved down to Texas we stopped going to mass. When I was in the sixth grade my dad got saved and baptized, that is when I started going to church again. We started going to FBC Comanche. I started to hang out with more Christ like people and started to learn more than I could ever imagine about God and his love for us. When I was in eighth grade I made the decision to follow Christ. Up until this point I figured since I was Christened as a baby I was good to go, but I learned that my parents decisions had nothing to do with my personal relationship with Christ.
I was very active in the youth group and church while in high school. I went to all the bible studies I could go to, did bible drill, and lead worship for the youth and the church. All of these things and all the people in our church who were setting a Godly example for me are what helped me build my Christian foundation. My freshman year of college I moved here to Denton and starting going to UNT (Kakaw!) I realized it is a lot different and harder to be a Christian when you move to a big town and your support group is taken from you. The first couple of years was hard, but I was blessed with a wonderful church family, full of people who were willing to make me feel at home! I have loved being a part of FBC Denton, when I had to leave my FBC Comanche family, they were right there to take me under their wing!
I have always had a heart for reaching the nations, and have been blessed with opportunities to do that! I have been blessed to go to Tokyo, Japan and San Jose de Pane, Honduras. I am now blessed with the opportunity to go to Mombasa, Kenya! Ever since I have felt the Lord calling me to do mission work, I have waited for the moment he would call me to Africa. I just knew that God would give me the opportunity to go, and now He has! My heart is filled with so much joy as we prepare for this trip. Even though I am scared I will not be able to raise the money in time, I know that God is in control, and that with his help, I can do it!  Ya'lls prayers are very welcomed, and I hope ya'll will be praying with us as we prepare for this trip, as we are in Kenya, and also after we return for all the people we were blessed to meet!