On Our Way Home...With Gratitude

Our Bike Kenya 2012 team said goodbyes to fellow cycling team member Bishop Nixon Dingili and our support /logistics group Sunday evening in Nairobi and headed to Kenyata International Airport for the journey home.  Our team (the "Chicago Five" and "BLT" or "Booths, Lamp Trio") will be en route throughout Monday, with arrivals in Chicago and Cleveland scheduled in the afternoon and evening hours.  We leave behind incredible memories and good friendships; we bring home with us gratitude and an inspired perspective on Kenya's land, people, faith and possibilities.

Bishop Nixon Dingili rode valiantly with our Bike Kenya 2012
 team. Thanks for your inspiration and leadership, Nixon!

The range of people we wish to express gratitude is wide. We simply could not have enjoyed this unique experience without them, whether they served on the front lines, behind the scenes, or in indirect but incredibly supportive ways.

We thank our families--for your blessing and support for our participation in Bike Kenya 2012. Thanks for your patience and grace. We've stepped out of your daily lives for a few weeks, but we hope to bring into each household and relationship a fresh perspective and love because of this unique experience.

We thank every friend, associate, family member, group, congregation, and neighbor who has invested in Bike Kenya 2012's cause: to build a new ICCM high school in Kenya.  Your contribution joins with others to move us closer toward our goal of $40,000 for this critically-needed education initiative. Gracias!

We thank Kenyan Free Methodist Bishop Nixon Dingili for his invitation to do a fundraising bicycle ride in Kenya and for his inspiring participation as a cyclist on the team. Here is a man both of great vision and  great heart.  He trained seriously and rode the ride of a lifetime with us.  I challenge every Free Methodist around the world to dare to follow Bishop Nixon Dingili's example in projects like this.

Vickie Reynen coordinated
daily logistics on our ride.
Thanks so much, Vickie!

We thank ICCM Director Linda Adams, ICCM Kenya National Coordinator Daniel Shanzuh and his assistant Benard Kimanzi, and all who are connected with International Child Care Ministries in Indianapolis and in Kenya.  With the focus of our pedaling effort to raise funds to purchase property and build an ICCM high school in Kenya, their encouragement and coordination has been vital and a blessing. As our team visited ICCM school after school along our route, it became clear to us that ICCM deeply cares for and is determined to create hopeful futures for thousands of Kenyan children.

We thank Free Methodist missionaries Vickie Reynen and Ken Myers for making preparations and coordinating daily logistics for our tour of Kenya and for accompanying us in vehicles every mile of the way.  We simply could not have done it without them.  They led us with grace and patience and kept us focused.

Ken Myers (right) drove a van and assisted with logistics
during our ride. Thanks, Ken, for your grace.

We thank the volunteers who accompanied Vickie and Ken to assist our team in numerous ways.  These became part of our little traveling fellowship as we made our way across Kenya: Emma Buterbaugh, Evan Guse, Emily Guse (all from Columbus, Indiana), Jake Sebok (from Decatur, Illinois), and Daniel Shanzuh and Benard (from the ICCM staff in Kenya). These were always ready with encouragement, humor and helpfulness all along the way.

We thank Alison Osborn, our VISA/Mobilization Team Coordinator in Indianapolis, for providing logistical support and making sure all our papers have been in order.

Team member Becca Lamp with our
three "Columbus Crew" - Ellen Guse,
Evan Guse and Emma Buterbaugh.

We thank every Kenyan ICCM school and church that opened hearts and doors to us during our tour.  We were heartily welcomed by schoolchildren, greeted by school leaders, and spent the night in several schools. We were fed (well!) by people of congregations who made room in their time and efforts for our ragtag crew.  We joined in gracious celebrations and assemblies.  We were permitted to participate in Sunday services in Nyakach and Nairobi and Kibera.  Thank you so much!

To all: thank you.  As Moses declared to the people after they finished constructing the sanctuary in the wilderness: 'May it be God's will that God's presence lives in the work of your hands."

- John Franklin Hay