4,325 miles down... (July Update)

This has been an amazing month of seeing God work as we seek to stay flexible to His leading and wait expectantly to see where He will take us next. It is so freeing to give it all over to Him, and fully trust in His Sovereignty!

We started out with a visit back to Forsyth, Montana. Among the highlights was a visit with our teammates, Laura Thulesen and the Richards family (including the newest addition, baby Addy). Since they had been in Idaho since January, we hadn’t seen them in quite some time. Houghton and Josh went at each other with sticks. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Houghton was giving Josh some fun lessons in self-defense! Toward the end of our visit with them it dawned on us that we wouldn’t be seeing them again until we are together in Vanuatu! The Richards and Laura fly out July 30^th, only a few short weeks from now. Praise God, they are on their way! They will be securing housing for us and the Jones (teammates) in preparation for our arrival the end of September.

We didn’t get to see as much of our Montana ‘family’ as we would have liked during our short stay (partly because Tania came down with a serious case of the flu ? while we were there). We look forward to being back in August for what will be our last visit for a long time.

From Montana, we loaded back into the car and scooted off to Ohio. We stayed with old friends, Andrew and Katie Worsham. Grace and Josh had a great time with their two boys, Noah (7) and Lucas (4). They spent plenty of time in the back yard pool working on a base tan (in preparation for Vanuatu of course)! This year, after all, will be one long summer for us. We will leave at the end of the summer in the Northern hemisphere just as summer begins in the Southern hemisphere! Crazy. And for a fair-skinned family, a base tan for protection is a good thing.

It was our privilege to visit Katie and Andrew’s home group and meet many of their friends (Hi there, you-know-who’s). While there, Grace and Josh got to go to VBS for the very first time! They had loads of fun, and learned some good lessons, too.

We had been in Ohio for almost two weeks and preparing to hit the road again, however, we had one last stop to make. Team Vanuatu has been working with a group of churches that happened to have a church plant in the Columbus area. We were told to stop by and introduce ourselves. There we met, among others, Scott Ronyak and his wife Kate. The Lord has been preparing Scott and Kate (as well as a handful of others in their local church) with hearts surrendered to serving God and glorifying His name among the nations. We stuck around the area for the rest of the week to spend more time with them, their pastor, and others. Long story short... (The long story is good, unfortunately there isn’t nearly enough room here.) ...Scott and Kate will be joining us at BMW headquarters this month. While we go through the Pre-Field training, they will be attending the Candidate Orientation. Join us in praying that God would give them clear direction as to where He would have them serve. Join us also in praying for this handful of others that are asking God for clear direction as to what the next step will be for them.

The whole situation was just a stunning example of the Master Conductor orchestrating to bring people and circumstances together at the right place and time to accomplish His purpose. Oh how amazing it is to be overwhelmed by the Sovereignty of our God!

What a blessing, as we travel to various places, to find people that are devoted, and just plain sold-out, for God’s glory – whatever it takes.

"Now to Him who is able… to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." ~Ephesians 3:20-21

So here we are—Houston, Texas. We will be here until about the 10^th of July. We will go on with what we’ve been doing. Pray, and wait, and watch, for God to open doors. He continues to provide opportunities for us to share the work He is calling us to and to invite others who love Him, and worship Him, and seek His glory, to partner with us.

After Texas we are off to Lawrenceville, Georgia (Atlanta) for the ‘Field Preparation Seminar’, our last two weeks of training before we leave the states. We will be there July 14-23 going over key concepts and tools to help establish an effective ministry on the field.

Until next time, thank you for being a part of this journey with us!

Your Partners in the Gospel,

The Kenners-

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Made it to Texas!

We arrived safe and sound late Wednesday night (6/25). To all of you that have been praying for our family during this journey, thank you!


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Riots and Death Result from Accusations of Sorcery

We found this article not too long ago. It was published by the BBC in March of last year. This event occurred just before the March 2007 survey trip when Jim was visiting Vanuatu with those who are now our teammates.
At the bottom of this post, we have provided the link to where you can find the article on the BBC website.

7 March 2007

Ethnic violence flares in Vanuatu

By Phil Mercer BBC News, Sydney

Superstition and the belief in black magic is common in Vanuatu

Almost 200 people have been arrested in Vanuatu after tribal violence flared amid claims of black magic.

Three people have been killed in the South Pacific island nation.

A state of emergency has been declared after fighting broke out at the Blacksands squatter camp on the outskirts of the capital, Port Vila.

The fighting - sparked by accusations that a sorcerer had used witchcraft to kill a rival - escalated rapidly and spread through the settlement.

Blacksands is home to thousands of people who have migrated to the capital from other parts of Vanuatu.

Villagers from the islands of Ambrym and Tanna fought with machetes and knives. Local police said the ethnic violence was the worst the Melanesian nation had ever seen.

It left three men dead and others seriously hurt. Dozens of people have been arrested, including a number of tribal chiefs.

A state of emergency has been imposed and public meetings have been banned for the next two weeks.

The country's unarmed police officers have been given special permission to carry weapons just in case there is more trouble.

Many residents across Vanuatu's archipelago have been forbidden from travelling to Efate, the main island where Port Vila is located.

Chiefs' meeting

Although Christianity has strong roots in this corner of the South Pacific, witchcraft and superstition remain powerful forces.

On the island of Tanna villagers worship a mystical American called John Frum, while others believe that the husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is a god. Vanuatu's Great Council of Chiefs is expected to meet next week to look at ways to defuse tensions between rival tribes in Port Vila.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6426877.stm

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Last time this side of the Pacific...

At the end of May (I know we are late getting this posted), during our short stint in Montana, we got a chance to see Laura, Houghton, Gretchen, Jesiah, Gwenny, and new baby Addy. They spent the last six months in Boise, ID so we hadn't seen them in a while.

Houghton gave Josh some fun lessons in self-defense...



Just when we were getting ready to go, it dawned on us that we wouldn't be seeing them again until we were all in Vanuatu. The Richards and Laura fly out July 30th, just around the corner! Join us in praying for them as they get settled in Vanuatu, and seek to secure housing for themselves and then for us and the Jones' as we plan to join them the end of September.


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On the Road Again...

This is going to be a short post. But we just wanted to let everyone know that we are hitting the road again tomorrow, this time traveling from Ohio to Texas. We have had an awesome time of seeing God work through our time here in Ohio, but we are going to hold on to that story for our next 'Update'. We are very much looking forward to sharing that story with you.
We thank you all for your prayers.

In the love of Christ,
The Kenners


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A Short Visit with Brad and Amber...

...and Zoe and Piper - The Jones family!


We are so close to Michigan, so we took the opportunity to shoot on up to Lansing for a visit with our teammates, the Jones - Brad, Amber, Zoe, and Piper.

We spent two days together meeting their family and friends. The kids had a great time hanging out, jumping on beds, and playing with Zoe's pet turtle which she caught in her yard. And the grown-ups enjoyed spending time together talking about the plans and dreams the Lord has given us for the next 25 (or so) years of our lives!

This is the last time we will see the Jones family until September when, Lord willing, we will meet them at LAX for our flight out to Vanuatu!



We are just so amazed by how the Lord brought all of us together, the Jones, the Richards, Laura, and us, and how He continues to equip and provide for us to do His work. We are grateful for the bonds between each of us that He continues to develop and strengthen. Please be in prayer with us for continued team unity!

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Arrival In Ohio...

We arrived in Gahanna (Columbus), Ohio late last night and are enjoying getting caught up with old friends! Our travel went well. Everyone worries about us cramming into a Honda Civic for so many long miles, but believe me when I say that the Kenner family has the road trip down to an art! (Besides, Aunt Chris gifted the kids with Nintendo DS's, which means many hours of quiet entertainment! Thank you Aunt Chris!)

Here are a few pics from the road...



Thank you all for your prayers for safe travel. The Lord was watching over us the whole way!


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