Where Can You See The Woodleys? Only in Kenya! Come to Kenya, We've Got Woodleys!

It feels like we have experienced so much in the past week, it is hard to know where to begin. So I’ll just start with when we left…

TRAVEL

Our flight to Detroit was very short and uneventful. MJ fell asleep right about the time they started to descend. Our layover in Detroit was four hours and left us feeling like we had been traveling all day, but were still only four hours away from home. Our flight to Amsterdam went relatively well. The kids ate their meal and watched a movie. We made a bed with pillows and blankets on the floor for Elana. MJ slept across the 2 empty seats. Both kids were out within 10 minutes and slept for four hours until the flight attendants started serving breakfast. While I was thrilled (and somewhat shocked) that the kids slept so well, four hours of sleep was not enough and things started heading downhill quickly.

MJ rode on our carry-on suitcase through Amsterdam airport and Elana did her best to keep up while pulling her own suitcase. Our layover in Amsterdam was four hours long and the kids complained almost the entire time. (To be honest we were all pretty crabby by that point.) Unfortunately, things continued to get worse during our flight to Nairobi. We were all set to put the kids to sleep again when the flight attendant told us that Elana couldn’t sleep on the floor. Soooo we all squished into our seats and tried to sleep the best we could, but MJ had had enough and proceeded to have the biggest meltdown I’ve seen thus far. He cried for an hour, slept for a few minutes, woke up and cried some more, and so on. Eventually we gave up all hopes of sleep and put a movie on to distract the kids as long as possible. We landed in Nairobi at 9pm and had to go through customs. If anyone has ever been in customs before, you know it can take a while and the kids were not happy about the wait. (We are hoping this Kenyan experience will teach our kids to have more patience.) We were told to switch lines three different times…each time putting us at the end of the line again. Finally, MJ’s crying paid off and they let us go to the front of the line. :) Once through customs, we had to wait for our luggage and then drive to the hotel in Nairobi. We made it to the hotel by midnight and put our two extremely exhausted, over-stimulated kids to bed.

The next morning our driver picked us up at 9am and took us to exchange our money and go to the grocery store. This is the day that I had my own meltdown. :) All of my friends who are parents and have taken their tired kids to a grocery store will understand. Imagine going to a new grocery store the size of CVS packed with people. Imagine having a grocery list consisting all of the food, toilet paper, soap, etc. that you will need for a month. Imagine trying to find the groceries you need while not recognizing any of the products. Add grocery carts that require 2 hands to operate because they don’t drive straight and 2 young kids that have slept a total of 10 hours in the past 48 hours and you get my worst nightmare. MJ cried for the first half hour and eventually passed out in my arms. Elana whined for a while and we remedied that with a game on our phone. Matt and I attempted to manage 2 very full shopping carts with only 3 hands (because I was holding MJ) and eventually gave up. I stayed in one aisle with both kids and the shopping carts while Matt took the grocery list and brought items back to us.

After surviving the grocery store, we loaded up in the van and began our four-hour trek to Tenwek Hospital. Thankfully, MJ had given up on fighting sleep and slept almost the entire trip (he even woke up when we made a rest stop and went back to sleep as soon as we got back in the car).

The drive to Tenwek felt very calm following two days of travel surrounded by people. Matt talked with the driver and both kids slept so I was able to enjoy the peace and take in the Kenyan countryside. While I could probably type a whole page just about our drive and the things I saw along our drive, I think I’ll just write a list of the sights I took in between Nairobi and Bomet:

Lots of people, donkeys pulling carts, dogs, motorcycles, more than 2 people riding a motorcycle, 3 people riding a motorcycle while trying to hold chickens, lots of people, baboons, cows, sheep, Maasai people standing in their fields, beautiful farm land with acacia trees sprinkled throughout, markets, lots of people, kids herding sheep and cows, massive speed bumps at each town, large pot-holes, and a lot more people.

Rift Valley

Baboons

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Although I don’t consider myself an expert in mission field experiences, one thing I do know is to limit your expectations and to be flexible with the expectations that you do have. This is difficult when you are trying to prepare yourself for where you are going, both physically (with the stuff you bring) and mentally. You attempt to imagine what the travel and life will be like once you get there. So here are a few of the expectations that we’ve had to adjust:

• Two weeks before we left for Kenya, we were informed that the Kenyan Medical Board would no longer be giving medical licenses to doctors with a DO degree. Therefore, Matt will not be able to work as a physician as we originally planned. (See what he’s up to below.)
•   We were expecting Tenwek to be a larger hospital than we visited in Honduras with a larger missionary compound. We were both in shock when we passed the Tenwek sign and instead found an entire city! All along the rocky dirt road were markets, crowds of people, housing for national people, small hotels, houses and apartments for missionary families, etc. Tenwek is huge! (I still have not had the chance to explore the entire place.)
• Matt and I try to set our housing expectations pretty low so that we aren’t disappointed by our accommodations. That being said, we were way off. :) We are in an awesome apartment with more than enough space for our family. In addition, the staff at Tenwek did a great job cleaning and stocking the apartment with cooking necessities and linens. The kids are super excited about the bunk beds and mosquito nets in their room. We are so thankful for our own living space in which to decompress as a family.
• While Matt and I had a great experience in Honduras and eventually became friends with many of the missionaries there, it was a slow process and we often felt like outsiders. This is completely understandable given that the full-time missionaries there had their own community and short-term helpers were coming and going so frequently that it was difficult to get to know them. Coming to Tenwek, we were both prepared to feel on the outside of things again. While we wanted to get to the know the missionary families, we also prepared ourselves to come and simply serve anyone around us…with no expectation of getting anything in return. Again, we were wrong. :) The families at Tenwek have been so welcoming and helpful as we are adjusting. For the first few days all of our meals were provided, whether in the kitchen at the guest house or in a missionary’s home. We celebrated Memorial Day with all of the missionaries on the compound at a large picnic and we already feel like we have friends that will help us if needed. We have been so blessed by the hospitality of the people at Tenwek.

Friends brought their pet bunny over to play!

Elana & MJ watching the MKs climb an avocado tree. There are 3 kids up in the very top.

WHAT WE’RE UP TO NOW…

The kids:

Today is the first day that the kiddos are functioning normally. Jet lag is legit. Although they have been sleeping on a normal schedule, it has taken them three days to recover from our travels. They are adjusting to the food…although not as quickly as I had hoped. Most of our food is very similar to what we eat in the States, everything just tastes a little different. Toddlers have an impressive ability to sense when foods that they normally like are even slightly altered from what they are used to. Needless to say, my refusal to give them snacks and their growing hunger is helping them adjust during meal times. Both kids have also had some digestive issues since we got here, but we have acquired the necessary medicines to help so hopefully things will be regulated again soon. :)

On Sunday the kiddos met the “friendly” Kenyan army ants. We had a little experience with stinging ants in Honduras and these nasty bugs are very similar. If you stand in the grass in the same spot for too long, their stealthy army will march right up your leg without you knowing. Once they reach your knee they all pinch at the same time (or so it seems). They continue climbing and pinching until you brush them all off. This process usually involves the removal of all clothes. So as the missionary families were on their way back from church, our kids were being stripped down as we brushed ants out of their pants and shoes. They even managed to get into MJ’s pull-up. It was a fun way to meet people.

Me:

The first 2 days I spent unpacking, setting up house, bleaching produce, finding drinking water, figuring out the best ways to brush our teeth without using tap water, doing laundry the old-fashioned way, etc. I feel like I have most of these things figured out now, although I’m still not sure where to take our trash or how to wash my hair with super hard water. Those things are on my to-do list today.

It is normal and expected that missionary families will employ “house help.” This frees missionaries from the extra time and energy required to maintain a house in another culture, allowing them to become more involved in ministries, while also providing a job for a local national. Yesterday, my house help, Milka, came. While I’m not used to having someone do my house chores for me and I was very embarrassed by the kids’ sub-par behavior yesterday, Milka has quickly become a friend. She is probably tired of all of my questions about her home, Kenyan culture, where places are on the compound, how to buy produce, the names of missionaries, and how to say various things in Swahili. I often feel like I should be doing more while she is cleaning, cooking, and doing laundry, but I’m hopeful to find some ways to help out around the compound. After a good night of sleep, the kids were in much better spirits today and they are now best buddies with Milka.

Matt picked me these pretty flowers for our anniversary!

Matt:

Matt is kind of famous at Tenwek. We have learned to introduce ourselves in this way: “We are the Woodleys, Matt is the DO.” It seems that everyone knows about the Kenyan Medical Board decision and feel bad that Matt isn’t able to practice medicine while here. Regardless, they are keeping him busy. He taught a BLS class yesterday and will teach another class again this afternoon. This morning he rounded in the ICU and visited Casualty (the ER). He has plans to help with hospice care and community health as well. Although he is disappointed that he isn’t able to treat patients, he is hopeful to learn as much as he can in as many areas of medical missions as he can while he is here.

ONE FINAL VERY UNIMPORTANT NOTE

I just heard music and singing: “…is it too late now to say sorry?” Apparently Kenya isn’t far enough to get away from Justin Bieber.

Our Journey to Kenya in Numbers

11 months of planning & preparations

1 new passport

2 visas
14 vaccinations

8 prescriptions

100s of supporters

1000s of prayers

80 donated items

4 large suitcases

5 small suitcases

34 hours of travel:

1 hour & 45 minute drive to Cleveland

1 hour flight to Detroit

8 hour flight to Amsterdam

8 hour flight to Nairobi

1 night in Nairobi

1 grocery shopping trip for the month

4 hour, 150 mile drive to Bomet, Kenya

1 month of service at Tenwek Hospital

1 awesome mission: “We treat, Jesus heals”

300 bed teaching hospital providing care for…

600,000 people in a…

20 mile radius

6,800 feet of elevation

50s at night

70s during the day

7 hours ahead of EST

2 days to find some lions

4 hour drive to Nairobi

1 night in Nairobi

9 hour flight to London

22 hour layover

1 quick trip to see the Queen & buy a Liverpool jersey

8 hour & 30 minute flight to Detroit

1 hour flight to Cleveland

1 hour & 45 minute drive to Erie
4 incredibly tired, but fulfilled Woodleys

Infinite possibilities for how God will work in, through, and around us.

Aren't you afraid of... ? (Written by Tammy)

After hearing that Matt and I are planning to live a life in medical missions, people usually ask where we are headed, if we are taking the kids with us, and then comes the question above. The blank is typically filled in with various forms of these:

“…your kids getting sick?”

“…getting malaria?”

“…your kids getting hurt?”

“…getting the zika virus?”

“…terrorism?”

This blog post will serve to address the fear factor of serving in a remote region overseas (at least as it relates to me).

*Everyday Fears

What do bears, tornados, and centipedes have in common?

I'm upset that I even included this pic in my blog. 

While you might be able to come up with a creative way that these things are connected, the easiest answer is that they are all things that scare me.

My family and friends have been taking camping trips in central Pennsylvania since before I was born. In fact, my dad has been going there since he was 5. When I was in my tweens, I decided to leave the comforts of my parents’ pop-up and sleep in a tent with my cousin. It was my first night in the tent when I heard a bear (or so I thought) grunting close by. I quickly woke my cousin up and whispered, “Steph! Do you hear that? There is a bear out there!” Once she was alert enough to realize what I was talking about, she informed me that the noise I was referring to was my uncle snoring in the tent next to us. Regardless, I returned to the safety of my parents’ camper the next night.

This is just one example of how fear can cause us to do irrational things…like wake our cousin up in the middle of the night because her dad is snoring. While the fears I listed above are minor and simply mean that I avoid them as much as possible, the reality is I (and I’m guessing others too) possess a great number of fears that regularly work to diminish my joy and trust in God.

Shortly after Matt and I were married, he learned how crazy my fears and anxiety can make me. Every night I would ask him if he checked that the doors were locked. I would even wake him up in the middle of the night to double check that he closed the garage door. Often I worry about these things and can’t go to sleep until I go check them myself. Soon after we moved into the house we now rent, I began having trouble sleeping on nights when Matt was working. I would lie awake for hours staring at the cracked bedroom door, imagining shadows passing. Every tiny sound would startle me awake and I would focus intently on listening for anything until I finally drifted back to sleep for another few minutes. I would imagine the house catching on fire and how I would attempt to rescue the kids. I would dream about intruders entering our house and being the victim of a violent crime. Within the past month, I even dreamt of Satan standing over me and strangling me while I was sleeping. My fears of being alone at night became so real for me that Satan had literally entered into my dreams.

*Missionary Fears

While many of my fears are not dependent upon location (Ex. Worrying that either of my kids will develop a terminal illness), preparing for the mission field has opened up a whole new breeding ground for fear in my life. Minor anxieties like…What if my kids have a total meltdown in the middle of the airport? What if I don’t get enough food at the grocery store to last us the entire month? What if I unintentionally say something insensitive? (If I am honest, all 3 of these will probably happen.) After those trivial fears come the big ones…What if we get separated from Matt? What if one of us gets seriously injured? What if my parents have a health crisis? What if we end up in the middle of a violent attack? What if I fail at being a missionary?

Although I wouldn’t consider myself an expert on dealing with fear or knowing how spiritual warfare works, I do know that since last July when Matt and I started taking steps to become full-time missionaries, the presence of fear in my life has increased immensely. I have no doubt that the enemy is trying his hardest to use my fears to keep me from following God’s will for my life. Over the past six months I have seen a counselor to learn how to manage my fears, been more open and honest with others about my fears, and most importantly, increased the amount of time I spend reading God’s word and in prayer. As I said, I am not an expert in this area, but here are some ways that I have found to keep fear from controlling my life.

*Defining My Fears

As fear was quickly turning into anger at both God and my husband for asking me to give up this American life, I realized the need to attend a few counseling sessions to work through some of these issues. While I learned a lot from my counseling, one of the most useful tools I gleaned was to define and dissect my fears.

Step 1: Clearly define my specific fears.

Step 2: Translate them into the worst possible case.

Step 3: Determine what would happen if that fear actually came to be.

So here is a light-hearted example using my fear of bears:

Step 1: Define the Fear: I am afraid of bears attacking me.

Step 2: Worst Possible Case: A bear attacks me and my family while camping and we are all mauled to death.

Step 3: Result: I go to heaven with my family and party with Jesus for all of eternity. My extended family grieves, finds our will, and deals with the few items we actually own on this planet.

See how scary??

While this example is somewhat silly, I actually went through this assignment with each of my biggest fears about a life in full time missions. I discussed them with Matt and together we came up with an action plan in the case that any of my greatest fears actually happened. It was a very somber discussion, but it left me feeling relieved. I finally recognized how irrational many of my fears are. Additionally, I realized that if my worst fears do come true, God and my family will be there to help me through.

*Communicating with God about my fears

While analyzing my fears allowed me to capture and tackle exactly what I was afraid of, I found that the enemy was still capable of using my fears against me. I have never felt the presence of Satan as much as I have since we started this full-time missions process. The enemy does not want my family to succeed. Which tells me that God must have something great planned. Satan’s lies have become a daily weight in our family. While he likes to change up his tactics to keep us on our toes, one of his favorite ways to mess with me is to instigate fear. For a while I listened to Satan and allowed fear to tear my relationship with my family and God apart. It was through songs at church and in the car that I started to hear truth from God.

“I know who goes before me. I know who stands behind. 

The God of angel armies is always by my side.” (Chris Tomlin)

“I am holding on to you. In the middle of the storm, I am holding on. I am.” 

(David Crowder)

I would fight to hold back the tears anytime these songs came on because there was such an intense battle going on inside of me. A battle between Satan saying, “Your worst fears are going to happen. Your life is going to be destroyed.” And God saying, “I’ve got this. You won’t be alone.” As God was working in my heart through music, I began to recognize my need to increase the amount of time I spent reading my Bible and praying. I started studying His word more frequently and with more focus. I started memorizing scripture that speaks truth into my life.

“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise-in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” (Psalm 56: 3-4)

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1: 9)

I started praying earnestly for God to protect me from Satan’s schemes. I would (and still do) fall asleep begging God to keep the enemy out of my head. Matt and I started asking some of our closest friends and mentors to join us in prayer for protection. Although my struggle with fear is still a daily battle, I am not fighting it alone anymore. I have family, friends, and most importantly, the God of angel armies on my side. The only defense I found to keeping fear from controlling my life is to regularly and desperately read scripture and spend time in prayer.

Not as scary as the other 2 pics, but they can still be scary at times.  :)

*My preschooler induced epiphany

A few weeks ago I was driving in the car with the kids. The song “You Make Me Brave” came on the radio and I started to get my praise on. The bridge lyrics are:

“You make me brave. You call me out beyond the shore into the waves. 

You make me brave. No fear can hinder now the promises you’ve made.” 

(Bethel Music)

Elana was listening to me sing along with the radio and interrupted, “Mommy, why does God make us brave?” I mindlessly answered, “He makes us brave so that we can do the things that He asks us to do.” Elana in all of her (then) three-year-old wisdom followed up with this question: “Does God ask us to do scary things?” It was then that I completely focused on the conversation I was having with my kid and the depth of the question she asked hit me. I started crying (I do this a lot lately) and answered, “Yes, sometimes God does ask us to do scary things.” The rest of our car ride was filled with me explaining to Elana the scary things that God is asking our family to do. Although she doesn’t fully know the extent of my fears with traveling to a developing nation, she does know that it is scary for me. More importantly however, she knows that God will be with us as we walk beyond the shore into the waves.

So what are your fears? What scary thing is God asking you to do? Make a change in careers? Downsize your house? Adopt a child? Give more money? Volunteer for something you might not be good at? Write a blog revealing some of your deepest fears?

In response to the question in my blog title, “Aren’t you afraid of…?” The answer is:

Yes. I am afraid of a whole lot of things, but I would rather trust God and follow Him somewhere scary than allow that something scary to keep me from living my life for Him.

What He says we will do;
  Where He sends, we will go,
Never fear, only trust and obey.

~John H. Sammis