Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Monday, September 28, 2009

Happy Birthday, Kathryn!

Dancing

Kathryn danced the night away at her second cousin Matthew's wedding. Today is her birthday, I want to wish her a Very Happy Birthday. I love you Kathryn.


Ken

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Road Closed

Road Closed

Heavy rains flooded many streets in and around Atlanta, GA this week.



Ken

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Elephant Appreciation Day

Because today is Elephant Appreciation Day, I thought it would be a good idea to post a photograph of an elephant. This is not the first time I've had an elephant on my blog, go here to see the other one. I like this one much better. Don't forget to show a little appreciation to your favorite elephant today.

Elephant in Watering Hole

Ken

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Painting in Africa

Monday the church staff had the day off so we took that time to do a little painting in the nursery also know as the "cry room".

Starting Mural

We even had help from one on the local boys.

Little Helper

Below are a few of the finished murals that we helped paint.



Ken

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Sunday in Africa

Our Sunday in Africa was like three days rolled into one. We started with worship at Open Baptist Church. It's wonderful to have thirty-three nations represented in one church.

OBC Cross

They ask all the visitors in the congregation to stand up. A microphone was passed around for them to tell where there from, it was amazing to me that there were people from many other African countries and even a lady from Holland.We sang worship songs with the praise team.

OBC Praise Team

Pastor Norman gave the sermon

Pastor Norman

After the service we when to Pastor Norman and Gabi's home for lunch. They have a beautiful; Gabi cooked a wonderful lunch for use and Pastor Norman has quiet the green thumb. Just look and the color in the flowers below.

Norman's Flowers

After lunch we went to a grand opening of Naledi Fellowship Baptist. Below are some of the children in the community the Fellowship Baptist servers. I have many more photos of the children but did not want to slow this post down even more.

TireToys

Waiting

Then we ended our day back at Open Baptist Church for more marriage enrichment with Barrett and Jenifer Johnson.
It is such a blessing to see how God is working in the community through these churches. I feel so honored to have been a small part of God's work.
Thank you Lord for all the love.

Ken

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Day 2 and 3 in Africa

Day two and three were spent at the FamilyWise conference. We helped setup before the conference, were table leaders during the conference, and helped with the tear down after the conference. It made for a long couple of days, but is was well worth it.

The praise team from Open Baptist Church did an awesome job. It was very moving to hear songs in the language of Setswana, I didn't know what I was singing but I was making a joyful noise to praise God.

PraiseTeam

David and Denise Glenn did a wonderful job at the conference; despite the fact that Denise was very sick the day they arrived in Botswana and David's voice was not up to par. After much prayer from the Open Baptist Church, Johnson Ferry Baptist Church teams and many facebook friends, you would hardly know that the Glenns had been feeling less than one hundred percent.

TheLeaders

A photograph of the small group of new friends at our table. I'm still amazed that only nine people at a table can represent nine countries and three continents. Jamie's blog has the list of countries.


OurTable

During the setup and tear down we moved plants in to be set around the stage. It's a dangerous job moving a jungle into a conference room, but we pulled it off with only one injury. Chad was attacked by a rough plant and bled on the nice tile floor (pictured below)

ManDown

Ken

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Our First Full Day in Africa

I started this post with the first full day in Botswana. Because by the time we landed Wednesday night we only had time to meet a couple of great people from Open Baptist Church, check in to our hotel and grab supper before going to bed.

OBC Cross

We started our day at Open Baptist Church. You can see their logo above on the window and a cross in the back ground that Pastor Norman built. There we met some of the staff and learned a little about the history of the country and African religion.

Then we had the first of many home made meals form the members of the church. Being from the south I'm used to southern hospitality, but they really know how to make a person feel welcome; Some members of our team must have put on a couple of pounds with all the great food.

After lunch we were given a tour of Gaborone. Below is the first building I ever saw with a sundial on the side. I don't think it would work very well in Georgia, but it was a very cool thing to see.

Sundial

We had the opportunity to stop and shop at an open market. There were many stands selling good and services. This shoe cobbler allowed me to take his photo while doing his thing; I love the way he looked up and smiled at the camera.

Cobbler

That evening we were back at Open Baptist Church for more food and to meet with the OBC team and David Glenn to discuss the plan for the FamilyWise conference the next day. Go check out Jamie's blog; she has our first day in Botswana posted there too.

Ken

Saturday, September 5, 2009

We are back from Africa

We made it back early Thursday morning, I think my body is back to our time now. Look for post about our trip to Africa soon. The internet connection in Africa was not very good so I didn't get to post a single blog post while I was there. I'll be making up for that this week. Thanks to everyone for praying for our safety.
Ken