Everything Returns Kenya Homecoming
There is a kind of ache that only comes when you have been away from somewhere long enough to feel the pull of it in your bones.
After a long furlough in the United States, we are returning to Kenya. This has been our longest time away from Kenya in seven years, and while the time in the States has been full, meaningful, and deeply needed, we can honestly say this: we miss Kenya.
We miss our Kenyan friends and family. We miss the churches. We miss the familiar sight and sounds, the rhythm of ministry, and the faces we have carried in prayer every day we have been gone. We miss the people God has called us to love and serve.
This season has reminded us that the call of God does not pause while we are away. It deepens. It gets tested. It gets clarified. And when the time comes to return, the Lord often sends us back with fresh fire, fresh burden, and fresh vision.
Everything returns.
As we return to Kenya we are asking God for something deeper. We are praying for the people of God to return to the call, for the church to return to the power of the Holy Spirit, and for our hearts to return to the kind of faith that believes the world can still be changed one relationship at a time.
A furlough full of family, friends, and faithful churches
Our time in the United States has been anything but empty. It has been a season of visiting family and friends, reconnecting with churches we know and love, and walking through several major family responsibilities that required time, care, and prayer.
One of the biggest objectives of this furlough was helping move our mom. Anyone who has ever helped a loved one through a major move knows it is more than boxes and furniture. It is memories, decisions, paperwork, late nights, heavy lifting, and the emotional work of transition.
We are thankful God gave grace for that assignment. We wanted to be present, useful, and faithful in the practical things. Ministry does not only happen behind a pulpit or under a tent. Sometimes ministry is carrying a box, making a phone call, sitting at a kitchen table, or staying available when family needs help.
Being away from our loved ones for so much of the year makes every minute we get to be with them very special and memorable. We treasured time with our kids and hearing all about their adult lives. Our family has always shared many laughs and this year we left with full hearts and look forward to keeping in touch through modern technology.
We also had the honor of helping one of our favorite pastors, my grandmother, through a difficult season of healing after knee surgery. She has been a blessing to so many people, and it meant a great deal to stand with her in prayer, encouragement, and practical support during recovery.
Those days reminded us again that healing takes patience. It also reminded us how beautiful it is when the body of Christ surrounds someone in weakness. Strength is not always loud. Sometimes strength looks like steady love.
Along the way, we spent time with friends and churches that have stood with us, prayed for us, encouraged us, and helped carry the work in Kenya through partnership. We do not take that lightly. Every handshake, every hug, every testimony, every prayer around an altar, and every meal shared has meant more than we can fully express.
We left many places encouraged and deeply appreciate all the people who welcomed us into their homes and who we shared a meal with. We also left with a deeper awareness that God is moving in hearts across the United States. There are people who still care about missions. There are churches still hungry for revival. There are partners still willing to believe that souls matter, communities matter, and obedience matters.
Being away made the call feel even stronger
Seven years is a long time in the life of a mission field. Kenya has become home to us in ways that are hard to explain. The people are not a project. The churches are not a report. The villages, schools, churches, orphanages, widows, pastors, and families are not distant ministry items on a calendar.
They are people we love.
That is why this return feels so personal. We are not simply going back to continue a schedule. We are going home to people we have missed, to work God placed in our hands, and to doors we believe He is still opening.
Furlough has a way of showing what truly lives in the heart. Distance reveals affection. Absence sharpens prayer. Waiting makes the call clearer.
We are so grateful for everything God allowed us to do in the United States, but our hearts have been turning toward Kenya again and again. We have prayed over names, places, churches, leaders, children, widows, pastors, and unreached communities.
Now the waiting is ending.
There is joy in that. There is also weight in it. Returning means taking up responsibility again with fresh seriousness. It means listening closely to the Holy Spirit. It means entering the next season with humility, not assumption.
We know we need the wisdom of God. We know we need protection. We know we need provision. We know we need revival that is not stirred up by human effort, but breathed by the Spirit of God.
We covet your prayers as we travel
As we begin the journey back to Kenya, we are asking our partners and friends to pray with us. We do not use that phrase lightly. We truly covet your prayers.
International travel carries its own challenges, and we will be traveling through Qatar on our way back. We are asking God for travel mercy, smooth connections, rest, safety, and favor in every part of the journey.
We are also asking for protection as we return to Kenya. Please pray with us concerning health concerns in the region, including protection from Ebola exposure and other sicknesses. Pray also for peace and safety as we travel within Kenya, especially in light of political unrest or any tension that could affect roads, meetings, or ministry areas.
Here are specific ways you can pray over our return:
Travel mercy Pray for safe flights, protected luggage, easy connections, and peace through every airport and border process.
Health and protection Pray for strength in our bodies, protection from sickness, and wisdom in every travel and ministry setting.
Safety in Kenya Pray for protection on the roads, peace in the areas where we serve, and guidance in every decision.
Reentry grace Pray that we settle back into life and ministry with clarity, patience, and renewed strength.
Open doors Pray that the Lord prepares hearts before we arrive and leads us to the people and places He has appointed.
Prayer is not the small part of missions. Prayer is the engine room. It goes ahead of us where we cannot go yet. It covers what we cannot see. It breaks ground in hearts before a message is ever preached.
Thank you for praying. Thank you for standing with us. Thank you for believing that God still hears and answers.
We will hit the ground running
Once we arrive in Kenya, we will not be easing into a quiet season. We are returning at a busy and important time of year.
The end of the year brings conventions, crusades, outreaches, school ministry, orphanage visits, and care for widows and orphans. These are not just events on a ministry calendar. They are opportunities for the gospel to be preached, for people to be strengthened, and for practical love to reach families who need to know they have not been forgotten.
The Christmas Care Packs are one of the ways many of you already know and love. Through this outreach, we have the chance to minister to widows and orphans in a personal and practical way during the Christmas season.
A care pack may look simple from the outside, but to the person receiving it, it can carry a message far larger than the items inside.
It says, “God sees you.”
It says, “You are not alone.”
It says, “The body of Christ remembers you.”
That kind of ministry matters. Jesus cared for souls, and He also fed the hungry, touched the sick, welcomed children, and honored those others overlooked. We want our preaching and our compassion to walk together.
The same is true in the schools and orphanages. Children need more than a passing visit. They need truth, stability, encouragement, and the knowledge that their lives have value before God. Every opportunity to speak into a young life is holy ground.
For the churches, conventions and crusades create moments of gathering and strengthening. Believers are reminded of the Word. Leaders are encouraged. People are called to repentance, faith, and service. Communities are reached with the message of Jesus.
We are asking God to make this return fruitful from the beginning. We do not want activity without anointing. We do not want noise without transformation. We want the presence of God to mark the work.
A fresh vision for pastors and Book of Acts churches
As we return, God has also given us a vision for this year that is stirring deeply in our hearts.
We believe He is leading us to bring pastors together for retreat, refreshing, prayer, teaching, and renewed focus. A Pastors Retreat is meant to refresh pastors who pour out constantly. Many carry burdens quietly. They preach, counsel, visit, pray, lead, and serve, often with limited resources and very little rest.
A pastors retreat is not a luxury. It can be a lifeline.
We want to create space where pastors can be strengthened in the Word, encouraged in fellowship, refreshed in prayer, and reminded that they are not alone in the work. We believe God wants to pour courage back into weary leaders and give clear direction for the days ahead.
Alongside this, we are praying and planning toward planting Book of Acts churches. That phrase means something specific to us. We are talking about churches rooted in Scripture, alive in the Holy Spirit, committed to prayer, generous in community, bold in witness, and serious about making disciples.
The early church did not grow because it had comfort, money, or political favor. It grew because believers were filled with the Spirit, devoted to the Word, connected in genuine fellowship, and willing to carry the gospel wherever God sent them.
That is the pattern we are hungry to see again.
We believe these churches should launch people into end-times soul winning and community building. Not passive attendance. Not religious routine. Real discipleship. Real outreach. Real love for neighbors. Real burden for the lost. Real fellowship that reaches beyond Sunday services.
The church was never meant to hide from the world. The church was sent into the world with the message of Jesus Christ and the power of His Spirit.
Everything returns to the call
The phrase “Everything Returns” has become more than a travel theme for us. It feels like a word for this season.
Everything returns to the call of God.
When life changes, the call remains. When travel stretches us, the call remains. When family needs attention, the call remains. When ministry is joyful, the call remains. When ministry is heavy, the call remains.
We are returning to Kenya, but we are also asking God to help us return to the pure things:
Prayer that depends on God fully
Preaching that points people clearly to Jesus
Compassion that reaches the forgotten
Churches that live like the book of Acts
Discipleship that forms strong believers
Relationships that carry the love of Christ into daily life
We believe it is time for the people of God and the church to return to the call and walk in the power of His might. Not in our own strength. Not in our own plans. Not in our own personality. In His power.
The world does not need a tired church trying to maintain appearances. It needs a Spirit-filled church alive with the love, truth, holiness, and compassion of Jesus. It needs believers who will pray, go, give, forgive, preach, serve, and build.
Revival is not a slogan for us. It is a need. Refreshing is not a nice extra. It is necessary for the work ahead.
So we are praying, “Lord, revive us again. Fill us again. Send us again. Use us again.”
We return with gratitude and expectation
As we pack, prepare, and begin the journey, our hearts are full.
We are grateful for the time we had in the United States. Grateful for family. Grateful for our mom and the ability to help with her move. Grateful for time with our kids and the chance to make new memories. Grateful for our grandmother and the grace God gave during her healing. Grateful for every friend and church that welcomed us. Grateful for every partner who prayed, gave, encouraged, and believed with us.
We are also expectant.
We believe God has gone before us to Kenya. We believe He has already been working in hearts. We believe there are divine appointments waiting. We believe there are souls to reach, pastors to encourage, children to love, widows to comfort, churches to strengthen, and communities to impact.
Please keep praying for wisdom, provision, Holy Spirit-led revival, and refreshing as we fulfill the call God has given us.
Everything returns.
We love you, we are thankful for you, and we will update you again soon from Kenya.
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