Looking Back, Looking Forward

Transcription

1 Volume 3 Issue 1 January 2013 Ten 2 Kenya Home From The Monthly Newsletter of the Eric and Lisa Kjeldgaard Family as they Minister with Agape Children s Ministry. Looking Back, Looking Forward I just re-read every newsletter I wrote to you during our time in Kenya and I shed a few tears in the process. The year was challenging and frustrating at times but always filled with amazing opportunities to see God at work! We watched boys give up their glue bottles and chose a better life, we realized God was saying NOW is the time for Agape Girls, we lifted weeping young girls from the garbage dump who were overwhelmed with gifts of bread. It was a humbling 11 months as we witnessed first hand the incredible love that our Father has for the least of these. The prayers and support you offered us sustained us emotionally, spiritually, and physically. It s been a special blessing to hear from so many of you who really entered into our time by reading our newsletters. Those of you who shared our adventures with your children, really make my heart sing with joy! I was passing through Merced within days of returning home and decided to stop and surprise a friend. Her young daughter opened the door and it was obvious that she didn t recognize me. I bent down and said, Hi! I m Mrs. Kjeldgaard. Her eyes opened wide and she ran from the door, Mommy, Mommy, Mrs. Kjeldgaard came from Africa! What a joy it was to have my friend and her children ask me questions about stories I d written. It was while answering those questions that I decided I wanted to update you on the accounts I d shared. There are links to the original newsletters too in case you missed them! Have you wondered about the young girl who gave her life to Christ after she asked about my tattoo? What about the couple who heard the good news when I parked in their field as I was crying out to God asking why He d brought me to Kenya? Inside you ll find out just how everyone I told you about is doing including the story of Geoffrey, the boy I cried over the entire time we were in Kenya. Finally, on the back page you ll read an update of what our work with Agape will look like this coming year. It s different than what we d hoped for but we are confident in the Lord s leading. With so much thankfulness for you, Lisa Agape Children s Ministry P.O. Box 5062 Modesto, CA agapekids@agapechildren.org Kjeldgaard Family 4500 River Road Oakdale, CA (209) (EK) (Lisa) eric@agapechildren.org lisa@agapechildren.org

2 Geoffrey I first wrote about Geoffrey here: In our very first newsletter written from Kenya I wrote to you about an 11 year-old boy named Geoffrey. Geoffrey and I had become fast friends my first days at Agape and I was heartbroken when he jumped the fence. The Lord used that heartbreak to teach me some valuable lessons that were to stay with me the entire time we were in Kenya. Through the 11 months that we were there, Geoffrey returned to Agape many times; most times jumping the fence just a day later taking other boys with him. He was picked up by the police and spent months in the Remand Children s Home. He was taken home and ran back to the city the very same day. I cried buckets of tears over this boy! When my parents visited, my mom met Geoffrey and said, You make my daughter cry! Anyone who follows me on Facebook knows the rollercoaster of emotions this boy had me on. No matter how hard we tried to help him, he wouldn t let us. The last month we were in Kenya, the boys on the street told me that Geoffrey had started sniffing glue. I was devastated for him. I asked the boys to find him and bring him to me and days later they did. Geoffrey, always the master manipulator, looked at me through teary eyes and told me how tired he was and that he didn t want to lead this life. Eric and I tried to intervene but Geoffrey didn t keep his part of the bargain. Days before we left, Geoffrey again found me downtown. He begged me to let him sleep at the red gate, the compound where most Agape missionaries live. I, in turn, begged Eric to say yes. We brought Geoffrey home that night and set him up with our guard. What joy filled my heart to know that he was SAFE that night. He was asleep within a minute of his body hitting the mattress. I sat with him, rubbing his back, and weeping for him as I pleaded with God to change his heart. The next few days were a crazy blur. I was trying to pack our home, prepare our children to leave, continuing to train my staff at Agape Girls, AND trying to figure out what to do with Geoffrey, this sweet boy who had stolen my heart and who was now living with us. Part of me was angry that I couldn t just bring him back to the USA with us. No one would miss him in Kenya; he s a discarded orphan who has burned bridges with anyone who has ever tried to help him. I approached a ministry in Nairobi about taking Geoffrey but that didn t work out. Then a friend who has a ministry in Kisumu agreed to sponsor him in boarding school and help care for him. I even got our beloved Masai guard to tell me, Lisa, he needs a father. I will be his father. Joy! I could leave Kenya knowing that Geoffrey was cared for. When we were piling into the cars to take us to the airport, the last thing I did was put my hands on Geoffrey s face and tell him how very much I loved him. I begged him to go home with our guard Isaac, to let Isaac care for him, to go to school and let my friend help him. He smiled and nodded. We landed in Nairobi just a couple hours later and Eric s phone rang. Geoffrey was gone. He had run away as soon as we left, once again refusing all of the help offered to him. More tears. And as I write this to you now, the tears are once again streaming down my face. What is God trying to teach me through this boy? This boy who loves the freedom and excitement of life on the streets? This boy who this very minute is probably sniffing toxic shoe glue that is eating away at his brain? My relationship with Geoffrey spans my entire 11 months in Kenya. My first tears and my last tears were for him. All that I can figure out is this; Geoffrey is a typical street boy, one who can t give up his addiction to street life. There are hundreds of children like him all over the city, and over a million throughout the world. Geoffrey makes the incredible tragedy of street children very, very real. Oh Lord, let my tears for Geoffrey be tears for every street child; every child that has been discarded, every child who thinks he has no value. He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 2 My Geoffrey

3 Sweet Saumu with a changed heart! Saumu In April I told you about sweet Saumu who was in the children s prison when she asked about my tattoo. Both she and her father gave their lives to the Lord in the weeks that followed. Saumu attended the Agape School the rest of the academic year while safely living back in her father s home. Praise God with us over this precious family that has been restored! Peter and Salome In May I told you about the gracious older couple who both gave their lives to the Lord after I parked in their field. Salome faithfully attends a local church and both of them are thankful for the Lord s work in their lives! Maggie who needs your prayers! Maggie In July I wrote to you about a girl found by a visiting team from Seattle that we had to place in the Remand Children s Home. The Lord used Maggie to show us the desperate need for Agape Girls. Maggie was one of the three girls who came to us the day we opened; how thrilled we were to be able to rescue her from Remand! Soon afterwards we had her evaluated at Joyland, a home for mentally and physically challenged children. The evaluation confirmed our suspicions that Maggie has some mental challenges that make learning and life decisions difficult. We tried to place Maggie under the care of a compassionate American missionary who runs a home for disabled children, thinking she could help with the kids. Unfortunately the placement didn t work and Maggie is back at Agape Girls. Maggie does have extended family that will offer her a home if we can help her learn a trade. Pray for Maggie as we search for a vocation that will help her become more self-sufficient! Agape Girls Mercy Happy at Home! Agape Girls In September we opened the doors of Agape Girls! Since that time we ve had 36 girls come through the home! 24 of them came to us from the Remand Children s Home and the rest were rescued from the garbage dump, were siblings of Agape boys, were girls found by good Samaritans, or were brought to us by the Police and Children s Department. 25 of those girls have already been reintegrated. Today 11 girls are safe at Agape Girls being loved, cared for, provided for, discipled, educated, and counseled. To God be the glory! Mercy In November I was delighted to tell you about Mercy; the precious seven year-old we rescued from the city garbage dump. Within hours of finding Mercy searching for bread, she was safe at Agape Girls where she thrived. The fearful, teary little girl became a joyful spitfire! Mercy had been living with her mother and step-father but we began a search for a more suitable home. Mercy and our social worker hopped on the back of a motorcycle and Mercy was able to direct them to an uncle s home. The uncle was kind and welcoming and was able to contact Mercy s father who had no idea that his daughter was living in such a desperate situation. Today Mercy is safe in her father s home. Just look at the delight on her face the day she arrived! 3

4 What Our 2013 Looks Like In July we told you that we hoped to return to Kenya in the summer of 2013 but the Lord has made it clear that isn t what He has for us right now. After returning to California and spending some good time in discussion and prayer with the Director of Agape, we ve come to the conclusion that for many reasons, the best place we can serve Agape in the coming year is by working from the U.S. office in Modesto. Blake has a long list of items that he d like both of us to accomplish and he s pretty sure we weren t going to be able to finish that list before we were hoping to leave. We re excited to serve Agape this way! It s a thrill to serve with a ministry that the Lord is so clearly working through and we are excited to help get the word out to as many people as we can. Lisa is continuing to direct Agape Girls in addition to working through Blake s list and Eric is tackling some big projects as well. And while we would love to return to Kenya, we have eight young lives that have been entrusted to us and most of them are very happy that we will be remaining in the states. Playing football is topping the list of reasons the young boys want to remain here; looks like we ll have a KJ playing on all four of the Oakdale Stampede teams in the coming season! Grace is delighted to not have to leave her horses, Stephen will be swimming for Oakdale High, Kate is trying to decide if she will head to college or take a gap year, and Nicholas will be headed to college following his six months with YWAM. Lisa is planning on making two trips to Kenya during the year. Depending on the political stability following the Kenyan elections in March, she s hoping to travel in April. The purpose of the trip will be to train and encourage the Agape Girls staff, a chance to do some discipleship camps with girls we ve reintegrated (that number should be well over 100 by then!), and taking a perspective Agape missionary to get a feel for Agape s work. A second trip later in the year will hopefully be to help transition the girls home to a new, permanent facility. Eric will be taking a trip as well and he ll be working with Blake and the director of the Kisumu campus as he determines the goals for his trip....supporting them stateside is what the Lord has called us to do right now and we re eager to follow His lead. One of the things we want you, our supporters, to understand is that we re working for Agape stateside just as much as we did when we were in Kenya. We re not getting the heartfelt satisfaction of working daily with the street children, helping our precious Kenyan staff or laboring alongside the missionaries we love and respect, but supporting them stateside is what the Lord has called us to do right now and we re eager to follow His lead. As our Director reminded us, we re really just returning to our initial plan which was to spend roughly a year in Kenya and then come back to work here in the states for Agape. Our primary income continues to be from our Agape account, funded by the faithful gifts you give. We are so incredibly blessed to be able to work with Agape, words truly can t convey what a privilege it is. Thank you for your faith in us and for your excitement over the work that the Lord is doing through Agape! As always, we covet your prayers for our family! 4

5 Check (Please write Kjeldgaard Ministry on memo line) Yes, Eric and Lisa, I want to partner alongside you and your work with Agape Children s Ministry by: Becoming part of your prayer team and praying regularly and earnestly for you Giving monthly support of: $25 $50 $100 Other $ Giving a special one-time gift of: $50 $100 $500 Other $ Name: Address: Phone: Payment Type: Visa/Mastercard Set up Automatic Monthly Donations *Please see reverse side for credit card and automatic monthly donation information* Please mail this completed form to: Agape Children s Ministry PO Box 5062 Modesto, CA Automatic Bank Debit (ACH) Bank Name: Branch: City: State: Zip: Transit/ABA No. Account No. Please deduct $ monthly on 5th / 20th (circle one) Effective date: **Please attach a check marked VOID with this completed form** I/we hereby authorize Agape Children s Ministry to initiate charges and to initiate, if necessary, adjustment entries for any errors to my/our card/bank account listed here. This authority is to remain in full force and effect until Agape Children s Ministry has received written notification from me/or either of us of its termination in such time and in such manner as to afford Agape Children s Ministry and me/us a reasonable opportunity to act on it. (Authorized Signature) (Date) Credit/Debit Card Authorization Visa Mastercard Name on Card: Number: Exp. Date: / V Code: Signature: Please deduct: monthly Recurrence: Monthly on the 5th or 20th (circle one) For months Until I contact you to discontinue Effective date: