blogging...

now that i'm back i'm switching back to my other blog

here's the link...

http://j-lee-andsothen.blogspot.com/

thanks for all your support and prayers!

love love love
jen

jenya in kenya (482 photos), by Jen Schenkelberg

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

so...i'm back

wow.. where to begin. there is so much that was done this summer!
initial thoughts. as always, when you come back from a mission trip or experience like mine people ask "how was it". and i have dealt with the inner conflict of how to answer that. because "good" or "amazing" or "so wonderful" just doesn't even begin to grasp the work that was done. i want to tell every person, every story and show them every picture. but yet... i have to realize that some people just want the "good" "amazing" or "so wonderful" and I need to be ok with that. But here is the answer that i have formulated that i think will either create a desire in you to ask more or atleast give me the peace that it wasn't about me and how i enjoyed it but that it was about Christ and how His presence was upon this summer... "how was it?" to which i respond "the kingdom was absolutely impacted."
as far as culture shock coming back. I dont' think i have ever really experienced that. I come back with a better understanding of what is necessary. I have come back knowing that I am so grateful for ministries like brackenhurst... talk about building up disciples. I always have such a greater for the life I have. This time I have come back with such a greater appreciation for the family I have. I can't tell you the joy I had finally getting off my last plane ride in Reno, NV and seeing my mom and dad and brother. man it was SO good. yes...there were tears.
The camps theme this year was "New" and it was based off of the 2 Corinthians 5:17 "therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. the old has gone the new has come." It was so great really starting to apply that to my life. And really becoming new. I feel like that is what the Lord has been putting upon me this last year. Lots of newness. Molding me into His original design. I have seen the mighty hand of God and the power behind it this summer. I have seen the way He stirs and latches on to hearts. How he awakens curiosity in the non-believer. How there is without a doubt a God who abundantly love and that there is NOTHING that we can do that will make Him, creator of the world, stop loving us, small and weak humans.
There was a song that was sort of our theme song for camp this year:

My soul longs for you
My soul longs for you
Nothing else will do
Nothing else will do
And I believe that you will come
Like the rain
I believe that you will come
Like the rain
Hallelujah, Hallulujah
You make all things new, all things new
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
You make all things new, all things new
-Misty edwards

That song just grabbed hold of my heart this summmer... because within it's simplicity you can bring all that you have before this great and loving Master and He listens and he Love and He actually cares about you and desires your heart more than anything else in this entire world! He says "if you screwed up... come to me, let me fix it. let me make it better. but you need to come"

I have realized how huge God is and how he is to be loved and feared all at the same time.

I made so many honest and true relationships this summer. because being around 25 people for 10 straight weeks especially in the conditions we were in... allowed for genuine bonds to form. We had no obligations of expectations for each other, we were all just our real selves. and hoenstly it was so wonderful to all grow and be searching for our identity in Christ together,. I just shout out to the whole team when i say how amazing they are and how honored I am that Gojd allowed me to share such a wonderful experience with them.

This is where I plug Brackenhurst. help is absolutely needed. If you are in college I would love to talk to you about serving as a counselor at camp blue sky. they are in desperate need of camp counselors and are always on the look out. If you have any interest at all in serving there next sumnmer please please please come talk to me and I would love to tell you more about this amazing opportunity. The ministry is also in need of funding. If you are interested in making donations to brackenhurst ministires to assist in it's growth and the impact that it is having in kenya please please please come talk to me and I would love to tell you how to do that.

THere is a site called www.goodsearch.com which is your everyday search engine like google excpet that you select a charity and then every time you search some amoutn of money goes to that charity. I would love for you to choose Brackenhurst Ministries as your charity. But if you have another charity in mind that's cool too.

there is also www.goodstore.com and check out things you can purchase like textbooks or tickets or other things that also give money to charities.

So the plan is to have a big open house sort of shindig so i can share all my pics and stories with you when i get home so be watching out for details.

And lastly, thanks again. I feel like I should show more or say more as far as gratitude but it would keep going and going. because you truly impacted the kingdom. and you impacted my life. so thank you. i am eternally grateful to each of you for you true example of the love of Christ.

love love love
jen

Tuesday, July 14

Well folks, it has definitely been a crazy couple weeks. The first week we went to Western we worked with the Massai. It was an amazing experience. Played soccer with all the kids out in the middle of random dry land. Did some rock climbing on these huge boulders. Saw some baboons which made crazy noises at us and watched a freakishly large amount of disney movies haha. We also cut grass one day with machetes (?) and then loaded it up to take to the Massai peeople. The week after that we went out to Western Kenya. It was an 8 hour drive on a huge bus up and down moutnains. When we got there we went to Rehema childrens' orphanage that Brackenhurst ministries works with. These kids are schooled there throughout the day and then have girls and boys dormatories. There were a couple hundred children there. Our whole team was split into pairs to go live with a pastor and his family for a week. Kali and I were with Pastor Agree. His wife Rosalee, and his 5 children: mary, naomi, david, abraham and dang it I cant remember the other little boy. But anyway…so sweet. Every morning we would get picked up by our van and go with 2 other teams to churches and plant trees. Every morning they were supposed to pick us up at 9:00. One day they got there at 9:40. But that was the closest. And one day they completely forgot about us and we didn't get picked up until 11:15. And to add to the craziness we ALWAYS stopped at random markets to pick up chickens or fruit or whatever. Sometimes even people. All of the Kenyans would just get out of the van and disappear for about 15 minutes with no mention or reason to the stop haha. it was insane. Kenyans have a completely different sense of time. There is a saying here "TIA" or "This is Africa" haha. Basically meaning that crazy things happen and what can you expect haha. Anyway, every morning we would get up and have quiet time to ourselves and then our family would feed us chipote (the greatest bread ever) and chia tea...mmmm so good. The last morning we were there Rosalee taught me how to make chipote... i'll be calling for some taste testers when I get home ha. Kali and I shared a twin bed while we were there.. it was the pastor and his wife's bed. All the children slept in the open living area on wooden couches and the pastor slept in the only other room. They were such examples of Christ driven lives. Their hospitality and general love for us even though they had just met us. They were always asking if there was anything we needed or if they would help us with anything. True servant hearts when the whole time I was like "I should be the one serving you" ... just a total mind explosion. At church on Sunday Kali and I and 3 other groups went to a church about an hour away. We were each asked to share the Word and they have one preacher. I believe 3.5 hours later we left to eat lunch. Offering was amazing…someone put an egg in the basket and they auctioned that off for about 30 minutes haha. Moms were breast feeding their kids in the front row and wasps were flying all over the place. Praise the Lord. The 3rd week we left Western and went to Uganda (got my passport stamped woot woot) which was about 2 hours away. Went to a place where we camped out for 3 nights and rafted the Nile one day. The Nile is obviously so massive! Class 1-5 rapids and some 6 that we had to walk around. It was such a beautiful example of God. How we should be terrified of God because he IS GOD. That crazy hull in the river that pulls you under and scares the bajeebeez out of you. But then God is companied with mercy and grace and that is the part that washes you out because he does protect and provide. Beautiful creation. I was in a boat with Kyle and 4 other boys and our guide, Charles. At the beginning Charles asked if we wanted to be hardcore and I was the only one shaking my head side to side ahha. He said he would grab me WHEN I flew out ... oh great ! hahha. So there were about 13-15 rapids that we went through. and there were 5 class 5 rapids. Out of the 5 We made it thorugh 2 without flying out. The very last rapid (class 5 ) I didn't do. But we made it thorugh Silverback which was the hardest one. The 2 times I got thrown out were so insane! The second time I was under for about 7 seconds and you can't fight to try to swim up because the water just pushes you down so you have to get in a ball and wait... just wait... I popped up and Kyle was there and pulled my life jacket and told me to stop freaking out and breath ahha. my knight in floatation armor ahha. Overall it was amazing. Last week we returned to camp where I had a group of 14 year olds (Meru's). 4 of them and they were so fisty. So frustrating too. Because I knew they could do things like make it to the top of the rock when we went rock climbing or stand at the top of the Pole (aka Pole of death ahahh) but then they would be right there and say 'i can't" ... and then the other girls would see them sit on the pole and just roll off and so they would all do that too. They didn't listen and were always apathetic…it was just a rough week last week. I just pray that they heard something last week that worked in their hearts. On Friday night though, 3 out of my 4 girls attempted Lion's pride and they all 3 got their fires lit. They went out about midnight but for 2 hours they had strong fires and that was SO encourgaing. One of the girls told me she was about to give up and then her flame caught. Man, it was so good to hear that and see them at least try. This week I have Satima (11-13 yrs. )..Kimi and I have 7 girls. We'll see what this week brings. I taught dance this morning hahahahah... yeah get your laughing out now…and volleyball which was intersteing. I miss all of you. And I can't beleive it's already the beginning of week 8. Thank you for your continued prayers! Prayer requests: 1. strength for the counselors, wisdom as far as discipline, or evangelism 2. campers... softened hearts, inquisitive natures, desire for something more3. health - we've been pretty good so far but we're in the home stretchPraise: 1. we have the most campers yet this week.2. the Word of a living God being spread3. Pizza Inn.... saving us from camp food every now and then ahhaAgain, thank you so much for all your support. I would not be growing in these ways without you and neither would these kids. Praise God. Sorry if any of the blog is a "repeat"…since I can't get to it I have a hard time remembering what I've already written.love love love jen<><

Friday, July 10

Hey guys~! I miss you so much! Last week we rafted the Nile which was amazing...a true example of the power and grace of God. How the river is so strong that it pulls you under when your raft flips but then it pushes you out. Our boat flipped 2 times! We made it in the boat through 2 class 5 rapids but on the 3rd one we flipped out and I was under for a bit (like 7 seconds). I finally popped up after feeling like I was under for forever and Kyle was pulling me up by my life jacket and telling me to stop freaking out ...my knight in swimming armor haha! Man I love that boy! Then we went to a Hindu temple back in Nairobi which was so strange because these people were worshipping these manequins like you find at JCPenney. It was interesting to see but so very, very sad. I have Meru girls who are 14 at camp this week. We went rock climbing Tuesday and I "belayed" for my first time ever. Today we did high ropes which was pretty sweet. Kyle is with Kili (one of the other counslers) so he's been gone since Monday climbing Mt. Satima with his kids. He gets back tonight...I can't wait!
I'm feeling good - have had the sniffles for a few days but overall I'm healthy. Western was a great experience…took a bath from a small basin filled with boiled well water. haha it was interesting! That's all for now!

June 29

Hey everybody! Last week I was in western. I stayed with a family there - a pastor and his wife and their 6 kids. It was great. We basically ate the same thing at every meal (chicken and chipote). During the first 3 days we went to 2 schools and a market to plant trees, then on the 4th day we went rock climbing and then went to play soccer against a school here in Kenya. It was crazy. Yesterday we went to church that lasted 3.5 hours and man the Holy Spirit was alive in that mud hut. This morning we traveled 3 hours across the border into Uganda. Currently I am sitting on the top of this hill directly above THE NILE! Tomorrow we raft. Prayers should def be thrown up because I am pretty nervous! I'm not a great swimmer and I can't hold my breath very long so pray that the Holy Spirit would just give me breath upon breath. Everything is going great! I have been blessed to not have been sick at all. Kyle has a little cold or something but nothing bad from the food. I think we are going to go swim in the Nile tonight. God was doing some awesome work this past week. Pray that the trees we planted and the words we planted will grow strong in the people of Kenya. Praise that we have all made it into week 6! Craziness!

Thursday, June 11

hey everybody! Sorry it's been about a week since I have written! Hope you all are doing amazingly well! Let's see so much to tell… last week was the first week of camp and that went so GREAT! The kids were mainly missionary kids or went to Rosslyn (the Christian school here). So when teaching them it was a nice start because they knew most of the stories and we were able to go deeper with them. The week finsihed out with Friday night summmit Fires. This is where the kids are put on a speaking ban at around 7:30 and we follow this path back into the woods were we sit in a half circle on these dirt stadium rows and first 2 counselors have a battle with torches. It was SO cool! They practice before hand.. so dont' worry about injuries but it's basically a representation of good v. evil. Then There is this huge fire that is in the front of this little stadium and we play games where moutnain groups play against each other., The whole time you are only allowed to say "how" for something good and "wow" for something bad. it's so great! And on friday all of us new counselors received camp names. Mine is "Shortcake" (like STrawberry shortcake)! Then we walk back to the dining hall in silence and eat a ton of candy and popcorn. I had to carry one of the torches back... oh my...my face definitely reflected fear hahah. Then that night anyone who is 14 or older and in the 8th grade can do something called "Lion's pride". This is where they have to go out into the woods. They get 1 match every 20 minutes in an attmpt to build and light their own fire. They only get 3 matches. If they can't get it lit then they are out. Then they have to keep the fire going thorughout the entire night until 5 that morning. Then they have to go on a 2 mile run through the woods on some rough terrain. And then finish off by writing a 500+ word essay about their experience and produce scriptuire they memorized that night. The whole thing is based off the verse "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, sould, mind, strength". None of the people who tried succeeded. But they had an awesome experience and can try again next, year. Then Saturday we had a closing ceremony where the parents came and we did our mountain group cheers in front of them. By noon they were all gone.

Saturday we rested and recouped. That night we went into the town to eat dinner. We walk down this dimly lit ally and enter into this room with 3 concrete walls and the 4th one totally open. A tin roof. And some tables with benches. There were 3 lanterns to light the entire room. These local artisits and musicians all gathered here to just show their talent. It is a non-profit restaurant that they started. They served us true Kenyan food... which was a mix of beans, rice, salsa, meat, greens, and chipote (tortilla)... it was definitely the best food I have had since I have been here. AMAZING! haha we listened to these different guys rap and do slam poetry and sing and play. It was just so neat being in the middle of Kenya.

Sunday we had new campers arrive and they are mostly form ISK (International School of Kenya). They are a huge melting pot of different religions and backgrounds. Katie and I are working with Suswa. Which is the 7-9 year olds. We have CAroline, Atlin, Shannon who are all little white girls. And then Ji Min who is Korean and just started speaking english in October. So far we have taught her what "weight, gold rocks, sinking, excited, and shoot" and she loves Hello Kitty~!!! haha Then there is Chigo who is this little AFrican girl.. so cute. She just turned 7 the first day of camp. And then Isabel. Sweet sweet girls. It's definitely different working with such little kids and especially when they aren't all reaised in a Christian home. Or have any background or knowledge. but it is so fun!

This week has gone really really well so far. We had campout last night and then this morning I taught Jr. camp about the crucifiction and ressurection. I think they understood. I am hoping it sparks a lot of discussion in groups tonight,. I looked at the schedule for this week and saw that I was teaching outdoor living,,,,this is the part where you laugh. Because this involves teaching kids how to make a fire. Luckily I only had one girl sign up and there were 12 boys so Kyle and I are teaching that "together" hah. It's pretty hilarious. We have had a lot of good time together this week. Which has been awesome. I really feel that the Lord is making our relationship so strong through all of these experiences. IT's the bomb-diggity.

Let's see... I'm thinking that's all for now...

Prayers: 1. for the staff to get rejuvinated on Saturday ...real rest this week
2. Unity among the staff... no issues or anything but just that we would be able to hold each other accoutnable when needed and have open hearts about what is going on.
3. The campers this week come from so many different backgrounds.. so just that they would get something about Jesus stuck in their heads and that that would spark curiosity.

Praise: 1. Last week went so well!!!
2. We are working on new hearts and we sent out a bunch of hearts that heard new things last week.
3. The team as a whole seems to be gettting healthier...


Thank you so much for your continued prayers... you have no idea how swimmingly they are working. Praise God!

the next 3 weeks I think we are in Wsstern so I am not sure about internet access but I do know we will need prayers for safety and just rest.

love love love

jen