SENIORS!!!

Hello dear friends, 
 Thank you for your prayers for finishing up last term and over the break. I am so thankful the Lord allowed me to go to Japan and see my twin and her family. We had such a great time together and it was really neat to see their new home and way of life (tomato farming!).  
I will include a couple of pictures of our times together.                                              Trins! Laura and I loved getting to spend a month together!!                                                   beautiful rice fields were everywhere                      A very happy Aunt Amy to be with these 4 stinking cute stinkers ;)                                              Two tomato farmers ;) Me and Yoshiki                                          had fun taking pictures of the beautiful Noguchi Family :) 

The break seemed like it flew by, and just like that we were preparing to welcome new students and our returning students for the 2017/2018 school year. We had 102 new students this year!! You can imagine what an emotional weekend that can be for families new to RVA (and those who have been sending kids for many years). It is always a reminder to me of the incredible sacrifice many of these families have been called to give when sending their kids to boarding school. I was privileged to sit in the “Parenting from afar” sessions again this year. It really helps me remember to pray for these parents as we hear their concerns and fears.  But it is also so affirming of what we are doing when those parents who are on child #5 (or whatever number) and sending their kids to RVA share with new parents about the things they are thankful for and how RVA is here for their kids. They affirm how important this ministry is and how it has been a blessing to their family, even in the loss of that time for them being physically together while their children are here at school. I am always humbled by these sessions and so thankful for the parent’s care and love for their children and them being willing to share them with us because that is what God has asked them to do. 
                                          1st day of school picture of my girls 

Just a couple of quick stats of KUW (Kedong Upper West) for you after 3 days of school. 
22 excited, nervous, not sure what to feel Senior girls
1 Dorm mom 
1 dorm dog (Zawadi) 
1 broken wrist (basketball try outs  ) 
 (One of my friends joked that we need to write on our board, KUW has gone…..”number” of days since the last injury. Funny, but not funny. 

Last night in Dorm devos we looked at Proverb 3:5-6 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways  acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths. " 
 We looked at who we are putting our trust in when it says LORD -YHWH and how He is so great and worthy of our trust. We can remember His character and attributes when we see His NAME. We looked at how our own understanding is so finite but how HE is infinite. 
This year, my hope is to help them to continually see their identity is in Christ. Also that as they are looking towards the future, they will seek the Lord and TRUST His great plans. Sometimes things will look different than they thought, but that God is in control and they do not have to fear or have anxiety about those plans falling through. 
Our devos will also focus on things like, How to find a local church, how to "stay a Christian" in college, how do I know God's will and other topics like that. 

Please be praying for our devo times on Tuesday nights at 8:30. 

Last week I wrote a post on Facebook after I was reflecting on it being 6 years since I had moved to RVA and I wanted to share it with those of you who are not on facebook as well. 


reflecting on the last 6 years* 
“A few days ago marked 6 years ago when I moved back to Kenya to work at RVA as a dorm mom. I couldn't even begin to know the ways that the Lord would challenge me and grow me. There has been a lot of laughter and tears, highs and lows, but He is so faithful through it all though. 4 dorms and 72 "daughters" over 6 (will be 7 years) has made me a blessed dorm Momma. Each year the Lord has placed a love in my heart for these special young ladies right from the start. The only way I can even do this job is by His grace and Strength. I can't tell you how thankful I am that the Lord allows me the privilege of being their mom away from home and being able to be apart of the extended work of the gospel being taken all over Africa. I'm thankful for the opportunity to be able to use the gifts God has given me to serve Him and the Body of Christ in this way. It can be a challenge to be in "support" missions because many do not see this as the front lines and therefore it is hard to raise the financial side of support to be able to do this job. It has truly stretched me and I am continually learning to completely trust our Great Provider. I would be lying if I said it was always easy and I never worry. At one point, I had to leave the field because of not having enough support. (Side note, even in this I see how God allowed me more time with my brother, Tom before he passed away. Even when we can't see what His plan is, rest in it and trust Him!! ) However, it has also been a joy to see the ways God has always provided and many times that has been through so many of you. THANK YOU for being part of the Great Commission to GO and Make Disciples of all Nations. The Lord has worked in my heart a love and joy in what I am allowed to take part in. I love that as a body of Christ, we are reaching the unreached. Sometimes it's the actual going to the front, sometimes it's crying with a dorm daughter when she is hurting. I have learned that no matter where the Lord calls you, we still have one goal. Glorify Him and reach the broken, lost, and hurting right where you are. It might not look pretty, glamorous, or exciting (in fact it is usually the opposite) but God determined your steps to be there and your job is to live for Him in those moments. 

All this reflection because I will start my 7th year with my 22 precious dorm girls in 5 days. I get to walk through their senior year of high school with them and I am so excited- and scared-. PLEASE, PLEASE be praying for me and for them as we will be stretched in so many ways over the next 11 months. I am excited to see how the Lord teaches us and how He will guide and direct each of them to what He has for them next. Pray for my new dorm daughter... starting boarding school as a senior can be a difficult transition!! 
Pray for wisdom for me as I continue to pour into their lives and that I will seek the Lord daily for His strength. He offers it freely! 
Thanks for sticking with me. "

Truly, I am thankful for you sticking with me over the years and for your prayer and financial support that allows me the privilege of being a dorm mom here at RVA. We desire to raise up the next generation of missionaries and gospel-bearers. With God’s strength and wisdom, that is our goal. 

I can’t remember if I have shared the RVA website link before, but if not you should check it out! It has lots of pictures so you can see what a beautiful place I get to live in. ☺  http://rva.org/ 

Serving with you, 
Amy Jarrett 

If you feel led to give or become apart of my team with one-time gifts or monthly support, here is some practical information for you. You can send checks (made to AIM) and include a letter that says it is for Amy Jarrett to: 
Africa Inland Mission
C/0 Receipting
P.O. Box 3611
Peachtree City, GA 30269-7611
You can also call their headquarters directly and set up credit card deposits or automatic monthly check deposits. That number is (1. 800.254.0010 ). 

June Update from Kenya

View of Lake Naivasha from the cottage we stayed in over Midterm 

June 7^th, 2017
How is it already June?? In some ways, this term seems to have lasted for so long, but then in other ways I cannot believe it is June.
 
Thank you so much for standing with us in prayer. We seem to be moving on from the sickness scare though we have a new flu bug going around the last week. Again, Praise the Lord for his protection. One situation that needs prayer is for our water pipes on campus. They have been doing a renovation of all the pipes for a while but with those being “offline” the old ones have been breaking so we have been on a water shortage for about 2 weeks now. Please pray for our maintenance team to be able to figure out what is going wrong and that they can fix it.

Beautiful Sunset over Mt. Longonot (left) and Kijabe Hill (right) 

I feel like this is a familiar prayer request, but please pray for my work permit to come through. Mine expired on Friday (the 2^nd). We have turned in my renewal application, paid for it, but are now stuck waiting for it to come through. Our guys that work on immigration are calling and trying to figure out what is going on with mine that it hasn’t come through with the others that were submitted at the same time.  Thank you for praying, God knows!

Full Rainbow that was such a beautiful reminder of God's promises

My girls are working through a very busy last term of their junior year. They have ACTs this Saturday and next week is their Junior store again. I have several girls who have lost a grandparent in the last couple weeks and others who have parents traveling away from home for health tests or surgeries. Please pray that they would have peace from the Lord, as it is so hard to be away from their families during this time. Pray also that they would continue drawing closer to the Lord in these difficult times. It has been encouraging to have coffee dates with some of the girls and hear how they are leaning on the Lord in their struggles.

Love these girls and a chance to spontaneously spoil them. :) 

One of the things the Lord really encouraged me with recently was about how God’s grace is for each day. (I know this, but it seems I forget sometimes!) Instead of looking at situations with eyes of despair, or 
wondering how anything will ever get done, or anyone will ever get through; I need to remember that God gives me grace EACH day. It is not a one-time supply that will be used up in a difficult situation but will be
renewed each day. We need to keep our eyes on Him who is our Strength and our faithful Savior. Of course I am reminded of Lamentations 3:21-24

“But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:
²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.”
²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.”

I love that verse!
I have some exciting news to share. I am thankful for the Lord’s provision of an affordable ticket to Japan for a month this summer during the break. Some of my family also chipped in to make it possible for me to go. What a blessing this will be to Laura and I!  Last summer I was supposed to be there for 3 weeks but then our time was cut short when we received news about my brother. I am so thankful we will get some more time this summer and thankful I can be with Laura and the family on the anniversary of Tom’s death. God is so loving and I am so thankful for this gift.

This last week I was glad to have my new friends, Enrico and Tina, come stay with me here at RVA so Enrico could see Kijabe hosptial. They are doing a 4-month internship at Tenwek for Enrico’s medical school. I met them in April when Nathan was here and we served at the WGM retreat doing childcare with them. They were such an encouragement to me and we really enjoyed the time together.  We got away for a weekend to Lake Naivasha during our school’s Mid-term break.

We climbed through Hell's gate Gorge 

Our school board has been in the process of searching for a new superintendent for the last year. After much prayer, they decided to name Mark Kinzer (our current assistant to superintendent and an elementary dorm parent –among many other job responsibilities) for a 4 year term as the superintendent. Mark and Carolyn are my good friends here, like honorary parents :),  and I have no doubt he will do a wonderful job leading our school. Please pray for Tim and LeAnn Hall who will be stepping down and moving back to the States after 29 years of ministry at RVA and for the Kinzers stepping in to be our Superintendent. So much transition for both families!
 
I pray that each of you will continue to be encouraged in the Lord and will look to Him as your daily source of strength.  If any of you are going through something difficult, I pray that you will draw close to the Lord and remember the hope and victory we have in Him. I am going to borrow something my sister-in-love, Christine, heard at church and shared with us recently. 

“Our Pastor gave 6 truths to remember on suffering from these verses. Each one the Lord has taught us on this difficult journey and each one is filled with inexpressible hope and joy for the restoration that is to come through Christ for the believer! ….1 Peter 5:10-11 ‘And after you have suffered (It's expected) a little while (It's limited), the God of all grace (Grace is available), who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ (There's a plan), will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you (Live on promise). To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.’ (Ends in worship)”

 
Thank you for your love and support of me dear friends. Thank you for your care and prayers for my girls that the Lord has blessed me with the privilege of being here and caring for them at RVA. I am very thankful for the ability and gift to partake in what the Lord is doing here and in Africa through the many families serving across this continent. I hope that you also know what a big part you are playing in that. It is the Lord’s doing, but He lets us participate and it is so sweet.
 
Serving with you,
Amy

If you wish to become apart of my support team through one-time gifts or monthly giving, here is a link to information about how to do that through African Inland Mission.

https://aimint.org/us/give/

OR:

3 WAYS TO GIVE

1. Online Giving

Link to our online giving portal. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=BA2CB0A93B314EC

Search for your missionary or project and set up your donation. (Note that all online contributions are handled as tax-deductible contributions. If you would like to make a non-tax deductible personal gift to a missionary, please send a check by mail made payable to the missionary).

2. By Mail

Make your check payable to AIM and include a separate note indicating the missionary name or project name. Our mailing address for contributions is:

Africa Inland Mission
Attn.: Receipting Department
P.O. Box 3611
Peachtree City, GA 30269-7611

You will get a receipt by mail, and attached to that is a form you can use for future contributions.

3. Scheduled Automatic Contributions

Africa Inland Mission is pleased to offer an automatic contribution transfer option which can electronically transfer money from your checking or savings account on the 15th of each month.

https://aimint.org/us/give/automatic-contributions/

 

March Update

Greetings to you from a beautiful and cloudy Kijabe,

Why do I have beautiful and cloudy in the same sentence?? Because we have been praying for rain for the last month or so and we had a full day of rain yesterday! Praise the Lord. Please continue to pray for Kenya and other places in Africa that still need rain to combat the drought and famine-like conditions.

The doctors’ strike in Kenya continues after more than 90 days, please continue to pray for resolution between the government and the union. Many people are suffering and the lives of patients are being lost who would normally be a ‘routine’ case. One positive note that one doctor noted at Tenwek Hosptial was that patients who normally wouldn’t come to the mission hospitals for treatment are coming and hearing the gospel as they receive treatment. Pray that many would come to Christ even in this horrible situation.

Life at RVA continues to pass by in a whirlwind. The girls really enjoyed their Banquet on Feb 17^th. All their hard work paid off as they put on a very successful night for the seniors. Their theme was Princess Bride and they did a great job. I had so much fun helping them get ready by doing hair and makeup for the big night. 

KUW Dorm. 21 girls and Aunt Amy :) 

The next big event of the term will be Interim. This is a weeklong field trip the Juniors and Seniors get to go on to learn different cultural experiences and earn a social studies credit. We have groups going to N.Africa, Tanzania, and many locations across Kenya. I am leading a group of seniors to the Maasai Mara where we will learn about Photography and Conservation issues.

Please pray for the girls and I to end this term well. (Leaving day is March 25^th!) As we get closer to the end, attitudes and emotions are easily tested and we want to continue to be intentional with living a life of praise and thankfulness to the Lord. We also want to encourage others and build them up instead of giving in to the temptation to get frustrated and angry with others.

Thank you for praying for my support, the Lord continues to provide and it has been encouraging to see that happen over the last 3 months. In January our support target went up to 2,490$ per month, so I am still short by about 300$ in monthly commitments, but the Lord has provided through different gifts so I am doing OK. J

I am really looking forward to the different opportunities coming up in our March/April break. My nephew, Nathan Jarrett –pre-med senior in college, will be coming to Kenya to see me on March 25^th. He will observe Dr. Dan Galat, an orthopedic surgeon, serving at Kijabe hospital the first week he is here. Then the first week of April we will join WGM for their retreat as part of their child-care team. We will help lead a VBS program for them. I am SO excited to see Nathan! A day after Nathan leaves, I will travel with some friends and fellow staff to Cairo, Egpyt to see one of my best friends, Julie Sandefur who is doing an internship there for a few months. It will be so fun as my sister, Beth, who is living in Cambridge, England will also fly down to join us! I am looking forward to the time with friends and Beth as we will get to see so many of the different historical and biblical places that I have always wanted to visit.

I would appreciate continual prayer for wisdom and guidance as I seek to point the girls to the Lord. Navigating this time of their lives is filled with challenges and opportunities to shape them into young women who love the Lord and want to grow in His image. I know I need the Lord’s strength to be faithful to my part of that growth and need to be faithful in prayer for the Lord’s working in their hearts. Thank you for joining me in praying for them.

I am really enjoying my Swahili lessons! I feel like I am finally learning how to conjugate verbs and now I just have to keep practicing!! I want to be better about talking to my national friends in Swahili so that I use what I am learning.  

Below is another letter from one of my girl’s parents who are serving in what AIM calls a “creative access nation”..

“In much of the world Somalis are known for their most famous pirates and Muslim terrorists.  To us, they are neighbors and friends, those who have never met a Christian nor heard about the grace of Jesus.  We live and serve among these people in East Africa for the privilege to see Somali Muslim "Sauls" become Kingdom of God "Pauls"! 

I was talking to a couple other boarding moms this week, who ironically both serve the Somali people and both have daughters in Amy's dorm.  We all agreed, no loving mother thinks when their child is small, "Oh, I'd love to send this precious baby to a boarding school someday!"  Most pray the opposite, "Never boarding school, Lord, please!"   We understand that cry.

Neither do most people cry out to the Lord, " Send me like a fearless fierce arrow into the Islam that holds the Somali people locked in lies!"  But this is my heart.  This has become my desire.  This has brought me to this place of East Africa.  This is my call.

Rift Valley Academy, as we live and serve in Somali zones of East Africa, is powerfully serving our daughters and therefore our family. At RVA, they are shaping lifelong friendships with other students who understand their family life, work, commitment, and identity in Africa.  They are thriving in their classrooms with great academic opportunities and acting in school plays.  They also are surrounded by loving Godly leaders like dorm parents, deans, class sponsors, coaches and teachers, all who reinforce what we pass along to them.  They are challenged and stretched to lean on the Lord and grow in their character.

Rift Valley Academy has become a beloved part of our family life.  We labor in some of the least desirable parts of east Africa.  Here the life of a teenage girl is extremely narrow and isolating. We are thrilled that our girls can attend RVA,  it is one part of their life that God is using to bloom our daughters into the godly women He has made them to become.”

Thank you for your part in serving the Lord and these families who are reaching the lost in Africa through your support of my ministry here at RVA. I pray you will be blessed by this knowledge.

Please let me know how I can be praying for you.

Serving with you,

Amy