MAY UPDATE!

Hello dear friends and family!
Praise God for what he has already done, is doing and will continue to do!
Preparations are going well for our trip to Kenya as; we've got all our shots, sent in our visa applications, got a start on curriculum planning andteam meetings galore are helping to finalize details and practice a bit of Swahili!

We were blessed with a whole bin of virtually unused VBS supplies for our entire team to use. It's called "Outrigger Island" and its SO IN DEPTH! Basically they've pre-planned almost any area of a VBS you could think of, to a Hawaiian theme and perfected the program for preschool interests and capabilities. Kevin and I are now both working with the 3-5 year olds.

From my limited experience in the Early Learning field- it looks amazing! We will teach the children through Bible learning center's, sensorial, homeliving, blocks, crafts, games, snacks, puzzles, book, bible lessons, music and follow up activities. I am currently modifying it to be "travelable" and to fit our time limits.

Fundraising is definitely in God's hands as we've already been given $6,746! Which means there is less than $3,000 left to raise for the two of us!WOW. Again, Praise God! Feel free to read the attachment and meet the Kenya team!Thank you for your incredible support. Less than two months to go now! Please continue to keep our team in your prayers.
Melissa & Kevin

MEET THE TEAM!
NextGen Kenya ’09 Volunteer Work Project
Team Profile

Derryl and Karen

Leading the NextGen Kenya ’09 Volunteer Work Project, Derryl and Karen have served with Wycliffe for over 20 years in Kenya, South Africa, Mozambique, and a short stint in Russia. For the past 10 years they have served Wycliffe Canada in a growing NextGen Mobilization effort. Co-leading a team of students to Sudan last summer set the stage for accepting the invitation to lead this team of 13 to Kenya to lead worship and run the children/youth programs for the 2009 spiritual renewal conference for dozens of Wycliffe missionaries serving in Uganda, Tanzania and Congo. The team will lead a VBS program for around 80 missionary kids ages 5 months to 16 years old at a conference centre on the coast of Kenya. When finished, the team will then travel to the nearby ‘Giryama’ homeland where they will help the Giryama national Bible translation team establish their new translation office. Here the Scriptures are being translated for over 600,000 Kenyan Giryama speakers.

Derryl and Karen are a little sad this will be the first time they will have ever traveled to Africa without any of their children. Shane (24) is preparing for his wedding with Christin on August 15, 2009. Carissa (22) just celebrated her first anniversary married to Kent and is working for the summer to pay for her final year of her teaching degree. Zachrie (16 and born in Kenya) is spending his last summer before he graduates from high school attending a very cool snowboarding camp on a mountain glacier and hopefully working his first summer job. Although their kids will not be with them, Derryl and Karen are excited about the amazing team God has assembled for this latest ministry adventure back to Africa. Nine of the 13 participants have somehow been involved in the past four Race to 2025 adventure races that have raised over $100,000 for Bible translation work in Sudan, SE Asia, Cameroon and Ghana. Race to 2025 bridges the adrenaline of adventure sport with the extreme adventure to which Jesus calls his Church. Most of the group is part of our Café Wycliffe community and everyone on this team is taking the ‘next step’ into the adventurous unknown!

Dan and Sandra

Not only is Dan a respected cabinetmaker/carpentry instructor at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, but he also has a seminary degree and loves to rock climb and ice climb. His most recent connection with Wycliffe was climbing frozen waterfalls with team Lembak on Race to 2025:SE Asia. Dan will serve as the team lead for seventeen 13 – 16 year olds. Sandra, an eager elementary teacher will lead the 10 – 12 year olds. Sandra first met Wycliffe missionaries while in Congo on a YWAM missions trip. Recently married, this couple is seriously considering serving long-term with Wycliffe in the future.

Krystal

Krystal is in grade 12 and a vibrant witness for Christ at her school. She is an MAF missionary kid who grew up in Papua New Guinea. Her quiet and gentle spirit makes her a wonderful friend to anyone. She is a great recruiter for Café Wycliffe and Race to 2025. She has a heart for MKs and is eager to serve the 13 – 16 year olds!

Aaron

Aaron is a firefighter and an Emergency Medical Respondent (EMR.) His first mission trip was to Nicaragua with Samaritans Purse. Together with Jessie, he participated in Race to 2025:Cameroon and together as Team Kwaja, won the top team fund- raising award. Aaron is using his $1000 prize to help pay for this trip to Kenya and will be working with the 10 – 12 year olds.

Evelyn

Simply put, Evelyn loves kids. She is an accomplished elementary school teacher and works with the youth group at her church. Evelyn has been part of the Café Wycliffe community since it’s inception in 2005. When not at work or serving at her church Evelyn can often be found volunteering with Wycliffe Canada’s NextGen Ministries. Previous missions experiences have taken her to Tanzania with Campus for Christ and teaching MKs in Mali, West Africa. She also raced with Team Osatu in Race to 2025:Cameroon.

Jessica

Jessie is an outdoor girl. She loves soccer, basketball, horses, Café Wycliffe foosball and any sport she can beat a boy at! She is currently studying psychology so will be doing psychiatric analysis of the rest of the team. J Jessie has served on a number of mission trips, the latest being in Guatemala. As part of Team Kwaja, Race to 2025:Cameroon, her team not only won first place team fund-raising, but also top individual fundraising as well. She is using her prize to travel to Africa for the first time ever to serve the 7 – 9 year olds.

Kevin and Melissa

Kevin and Melissa are about to celebrate their first anniversary. Melissa is a ‘veteran’ short-term missionary having served with Venture Teams International in Costa Rica, Quebec, India and the UK. Kevin is an avid outdoor adventurer and has participated in Race to 2025 Sudan and Race to 2025 SE Asia. Last year Kevin and Melissa initiated a Café Wycliffe ‘Youth’ outreach and are currently in application to serve with Wycliffe NextGen Ministries. They will be serving fifteen 3 – 6 year old missionary kids in Kenya.

Kate

Kate is a graduate of Providence College with a degree in Intercultural Studies and a TESOL certificate. She greatly appreciates the work Wycliffe is doing worldwide and loves a good challenge. She loves babies and small children and will serve as the team lead to care for seventeen 1 – 2 year olds.

Dana

Dana raced with three guys in Race to 2025:Ghana and held her own! Not only did she love the adventure, but loved the introduction to linguistics in the Ghanaian ‘village.’ She wrote later, “I want to know more about linguistics and language survey. She will get here share of meeting many ‘linguists’ as she cares for their 1 – 2 year olds in Africa! Her race team, Team Mampruli, won the linguistics challenge award and with that money, plans to attend the Canada Institute of Linguistics in summer 2010 to explore her place in the global Bible translation movement.

Maryann

Maryann recently graduated from Peace River Bible Institute. One of her highlights was a school led missions trip to Japan. Since then, she has also been part of the PRBI ‘Africa group,’ a group of a dozen students feeling a strong call on their lives to serve the Lord in Africa. She will be one of the first of her group to get there, serving our Wycliffe missionaries by lovingly caring for their smallest babies and toddlers.

Group Prayer Requests

To honour and glorify Christ in all we do
To have flexible, humble servants' hearts
For great relationships (marital, team and cross-cultural)
God's favour in crossing language and cultural barriers
Health and safety in air and land travel
For eyes to see what God is showing each team member
For team unity in meetings, planning and serving
For generous financial supporters and prayer partners for each team member
For effective ministry to the 80 missionary children, their parents and the Giryama national Bible translation project we will serve
A passion for God and His Word to grow amongst this team and this ‘Next Generation’