Dear Family and Friends,

We hope this letter finds you well and that you are enjoying the changes to spring time.   We also hope that you had a meaningful celebration of Easter.    We are writing to give you an update on us and to clarify some questions some folks have emailed us lately in concern for our safety and the school's safety.   We are indeed safe and thankful for the Lord's continued protection to our school as well as to the hundreds of parents that work throughout the continent of Africa.   We are deeply saddened by the tragedy of the events in Garissa town in North Eastern Kenya. Garissa is about 5 hours from Kijabe, roughly 260 km north east, about halfway to Lamu. It is a city along a major thoroughfare that provides relatively direct access to the southern border of Somalia. The events that occurred on Thursday April 3rd were claimed to have been carried out by Al-Shab*ab in retaliation for Kenya's role in the African Union Peace Keeping forces in the country of Somalia. They do not bear directly on the security of Rift Valley Academy, other than to represent Al-Shaba*b's intent to cause harm to wherever possible to residents of Kenya, especially those who are nonMuslim.  We are grateful for those of you who have expressed concern for us.   We covet your prayers for the families involved.  There are some pastor's asking that the churches in these areas will be able to love their neighbors and their enemies in light of this atrocity.   We also ask that you continue to pray for the safety of our school and the families that we serve.  Many of our families are reaching into very unreached areas.  We do feel safe over all while here in Kenya and feel that we can go about normal life as in any city in the U.S.  when we travel to the capital, Nairobi.

Our family has been through a busy term and we are thankful for time to catch up  during the few weeks that the school is closed.   Before school ended we took a group of students on an educational trip out of the school for the last week of the term.     It was  great trip to look at issues in Kenya.  We looked at Conservation of Animals and Forests.  We looked at community programs and conflicts as communities and conservation try to coexist.    It was a great trip over all and we were grateful to learn a lot with our students.   One thing we learned is that most predictions from several groups say that Elephants, lions and rhino  in the wild of Kenya will be extinct in 10-15 years.   It is shocking to learn how fast the world is changing.  It was also easy to teach the lesson that the love of money is the root of all evil.  Ivory and rhino horn are extremely valuable around the world and lions are treated as pests by those that want to raise cattle.   One of the encouraging parts of our trip was being able to hand out food to a group that has been really affected by the drought in their region.  They danced and sang songs of praise to God who had answered their prayers. 

We also had the privilege of watching Nate go to his Senior Banquet.   Amanda and I have sponsored the class since 7th grade and we were able to attend the banquet with the students and fellow sponsors.  Wow, the food and decorations were amazing.   In the beginning of March we also participated in a weekend seminar for the seniors in order to prepare them to transition out of RVA and into another culture.   These two guys look deep in thought.  Maybe it is because they know, like all of their classmates, they are leaving the very familiar and supportive environment and going to 2 very different cultures.  Or... maybe they are just deciding if they should go get in line for another cup of chai and donuts :-).  Please pray for our students as many of them are in their home for the last time during the vacation.  They will finish next term and then graduate and get on airplanes to move all over the world.   Transition is part of the MK life but this will be a much bigger transition. 




NEWS FLASH! We are coming back to the U.S. from July 20th for about 5 weeks.  If you know of a place that we could create as home base in Maryland and a vehicle that we could borrow, we would be grateful for any leads.

The sun sets this past term have been wonderful and so photogenic(photo credit to Janelle).   However, there were way too many of them to remind us that the rains didn't come.   Reports from all over Kenya of shortages and drought will never make your TV News but droughts are happening here.    We have just had 5 days of rain but we really need a month of rain.  The famines up north where we went on our trip will not be eliminated by 5 days of rain.    Please pray for God to glorify himself in Kenya as he see's best.   We are often humbled and challenged by the way that Kenyans trust the Lord and are joyful, even in the midst of very tough times. 

We are grateful for your prayers and support.  Without your partnership we couldn't be here.  Please drop us a note and let us know how you are doing.   We love hearing from folks back in the U.S. 


In His Grace and Strength,

Steve Amanda, Nate, Evan, Janelle