Our Contract is Up

Steph and I had known for many years that missions work was in the future of our family.  As many of you know, our first foreign mission trip was to the Dominican Republic with a group from my grandparents’ church in 1998.  It opened our eyes to how so much of the world lives.  I have found that it is so easy in the U.S. to ignore the plight of the poor and the suffering.  It seems like we easily manage to keep them fairly compartmentalized away from our every day view.  But on that trip, it was much different.  As we drove from the town where we stayed to the sugar cane batey where we worked, we saw the shacks that many called home; we saw the tattered clothes that barely covered children; we saw what poverty truly looked like.

I can still clearly remember the last evening we were there.  We attended a dedication service for the church we had been laboring to build.  (We hadn’t fully completed it but had managed to take it from only a partial foundation to being ready to have a roof poured.)  It certainly wasn’t a fancy building.  There would be no plush carpets or comfortable pews.  There will likely never be any fancy sound system.  There will be no projector to show sermon outlines, videos, or music lyrics.  It was a simple building with strong walls and a roof to protect from wind, rain, and sun….and the people loved it and loved us for building it.  As we drove away, Steph and I both shed tears over the pure joy and love we had experienced from these precious people.

When we arrived back in America, everything was different.  We both saw the world from a much different perspective.  It seemed so silly to hear the complaints that only weeks earlier we had participated in…restaurants serving food that was too cold, nothing good on TV, the weather not cooperating with our plans, etc.  It was around this time that we knew we were being called to continue in foreign missions.

 

Fast forward almost fourteen years exactly and we were following through on our commitment to foreign mission work.  A lot happened in those fourteen years.  There was our wedding, the birth of four amazing Kelley kids, schooling (ok…a LOT of schooling), the death of my dad, several short-term mission trips, and so many other life-altering experiences.  But our desire to follow Christ’s leading, wherever that may take us, remained.

We had never been to Tenwek, or Kenya, or even Africa for that matter.  It seemed like a crazy, stupid thing to do.  And in one sense, it may have been.  I know of a lot of people who expressed sincere concerns over me taking my family to such a far away place. But the illusion of safety in America is only that and I hold fast to the fact that the safest place I could ever have my family is in the center of God’s will…and His will was for us to go to an unseen and unknown land.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It isn’t possible for me to recall all of the experiences and emotions we have had since arriving.  Anxiety of the unknown was certainly present throughout our first few months.  Shopping, cooking, transportation, and other daily activities which we never really think too much about now required much more forethought than ever before.  Medical practice in a setting with limited and variable resources along with seeing diseases I had only read about also presented significant challenges (and it still does).  But without a doubt, the most challenging, difficult, unthinkable event was having to release my baby girl back to God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To say that I’m a different person now than I was two years ago is almost laughable.  While in some ways I’m very much the same, in others ways everything is different.  I am a different father, husband, clinician and missionary.  I try to be more intentional about living for eternity instead of today.  Never does a day go by that I don’t think about my daughter and the place she now calls home with my Savior.

As a clinician, I have cared for patients with disease extremes that don’t seem possible.  I have also been present for the deaths of more people than I would care to recall…many of whom were children.  But I have also had the opportunity to share in the grief of families in a deep and personal way that wouldn’t have been possible before.  It is yet another small gift that has come with the pain of Hannah’s death.

We have been privileged to have a lot of amazing experiences since coming here as well.  Going on safari, owning some unique creatures (several dozen chameleons by now), and taking some brief vacations are just a few of them.  These have definitely helped us to recharge for the ongoing work at Tenwek.

It has been two years since the Kelley family boarded a plane to begin our Kenyan adventure and it has certainly been a full two years!  There has been a lot of laughter, many tears, and so many challenges.  We would like to again thank everyone for the amazing love, support, and prayers you have provided our family.  We certainly couldn’t have made it this long without such an amazing group of people standing behind us!  God bless you as we continue to serve together!!

Prayer Requests:

-Pray as we try to figure out where I should work while in the states.  Some doors have closed and other unexpected ones have recently opened.  Pray that we will discern God’s will for these next steps.

-Pray as we try to sell our house soon.  We are currently renting out our home but due to many factors, we are losing money every month.  When we return in June we hope to very quickly sell the house and minimize losses.  Pray that we can at least break even on the sale (although a positive value would be even better).  And if you know anyone looking for a nice town house outside of Allentown, please let us know!!

-Pray for us as we continue the transition from Samaritan’s Purse to World Gospel Mission.  Interviews and other processes await us.  Pray that God’s will would be done through all of this.

-Pray for additional financial support now and as we transition to WGM.  Samaritan’s Purse has been gracious enough to give an extension that makes up for the time we returned to the states for Hannah’s services but that still leaves a gap from March to June.

-Pray for opportunities for us to speak/share the work going on at Tenwek when we return.  We hope to meet with a lot of you who have supported us and would love to talk about opportunities to join us for the first time or to re-engage with us in the work God is doing.