This summer has been quite the adventure. In the beginning of 2014, Donna and I took a road trip from San Diego to Iowa for the first time since the late 80's! I was always nervous about driving across country with an older car - until I drove in Kenya! Now, we have much more courage. 

When we arrived in the US in May,we only spent two days in San Diego before taking a road trip to the Midwest. We drove 27 hours straight to arrive in Broken Arrow, OK in time for our first speaking engagement - two hours after our arrival! Thank God our daughter, Kierstien, was along to help with the driving!

From Oklahoma, we spent time in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arizona. We finally got home to San Diego the 12th of July - our 40th wedding anniversary! 

We then traveled to Cambria, California and spent four days on the Central Coast! What a beautiful place! The ministry was also glorious! 

Now we are starting our second trip to the Midwest tomorrow, heading for Arizona, Oklahoma, and who knows from there! After all the traveling, I can say I am looking forward to going back home to Kenya! But it has been a great adventure!

In this blog, I wanted to share about our travels in the US earlier this year, and catch everyone up on our travels in Kenya.

In December, Donna and I had planned to return to the US for Christmas with our daughter. I knew we would be home for a few weeks, and asked the Lord for a plan so we wouldn’t just sit around the house for a few weeks waiting to come back to Kenya. The thought of doing “A Kenya Coffee with the Pfaltzgraff’s” came to my mind.  So we made a couple of contacts to see if there would be an interest.

There was an interest, and we started a travel adventure that lasted the full time we were in the US. We were so blessed – we drove over 11,500 miles from December 30th to the end of February! We met with partners, friends and family in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois! We are so grateful for the opportunities we had to share the word, and share our vision!

The end of May, we return to the United States for two months! If you would like to host a small coffee or tea and allow us to share a couple of videos and a bit about our mission, please let me know! We will be in the Midwest as from 28th May through end of June – and on the West Coast from 1st July to 1st of August. These Coffee’s are not meant to be fund-raisers – just an attempt to help people become aware of what God is doing through Grace & Faith Family Ministries International! Please contact us – [email protected] – to set up a time to get together! 


Thank you for standing with us in ministry! Together we really DO make the difference!

Living in Kenya is an adventure! We arrived on August 22, not sure what we would find at the Nairobi International Airport. Earlier in September, the International Arrivals terminal had burned! But we were so pleasantly surprised to go through immigration and customs with no issues. The first day we arrived, we needed to attend to some issues with our vehicle – so we had to find new tires, have a couple of cables replaced (the speedometer cable and the fuel gauge cable), and had to have the clutch adjusted. Unfortunately, while we were out of the country, the back doors quit opening – and one of the outside rear-view mirrors was damaged. We had everything pretty much in working order by Saturday afternoon, and headed for Narok! We spent our first weekend ministering among the Masai in the Narok area. What a blessing they were to us as well! Monday morning, we headed for our home in Kakamega. Let me say, the roads to Kakamega are horrid! Words cannot express how bad they are! What should have taken us only about 5 hours to travel took us nearly 8 hours! But we finally arrived, and began to get settled.

I have become accustomed to finding surprises (some not too pleasant) when we first arrive. This trip was no exception! We were so grateful to see that our ceiling had been fixed and replaced. However, in the course of replacing the ceiling, the electricity was terribly disrupted, and we had no lights in our bedroom, nor in our dining room! So, we were trying to unpack our belonging in the dark – with only the flickering light of a burning candle! By the next day, an electrician had come and repaired the broken lights – and we were back in business!

One morning, shortly after our arrival in Kakamega, Donna was taking a shower and there was a fire in the bathroom! I was getting ready to open the house, when I heard her screaming “fire! Fire! Fire!” I ran to see the wire that connects to our shower head had caught fire along the wall – so I switched off the electricity in the bathroom, and put out the fire. A quick call to the electrician got the problem repaired – we needed to re-wire the area – and the shower was working once again!

The next morning, however, the shower did not produce any water! We had the tank filled, but it would be empty within a few hours! We could find no leaks or problems in the pipes…but obviously there was a leak somewhere! Finally, Donna found the leak, and we knew we needed to replace a part on our toilet. It took us three days to find that part! So for three days, we had no water in our house! What a joy! When the part was finally found and the toilet was fixed, we were so excited to take a shower again – but the water did not flow into the shower! So, we had to find a plumber to come and fix our pipes! An exciting report from this is that after we repaired the toilet and the pipes coming to the house, we have only had to have our tank filled very five days instead of every-other day! We are very happy with this development as it will keep our expenses a bit lower.

You can see there are great challenges living in the bush of Western Kenya! But all in all, we are so excited and count it such an honor to be here, living our dream of teaching all nations! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!

This morning, I was up at 5AM - not unusual for me the first few days back in the United States. It was such a good trip home from Kenya - we saw the favor of God in so many ways.

We arrived in Detroit about 1:15 December 24. We thought we might see snow, but there was none in Detroit. God had given us such favor for our last flight home, as we were upgraded to first class from Detroit to San Diego. Our flight started at 3:45 Monday afternoon. It was quite cloudy, so we were not able to see the snow in Iowa as we passed over it. However, I had my window shade open to see if we could catch a glimpse.

It was almost surreal as we flew across the US. Here we are, Christmas Eve, flying over the United States. As we flew over Iowa, my mind went to Christmas past - first of my childhood, then of the first few years of our marriage. I was remembering how every year my dad's church had their children's Christmas program every Christmas Eve. (I always secretly wanted to be Joseph in the Christmas play, but was often only a shepherd or a cherub...the latter was really a stretch LOL.) After the Christmas Eve Service, we would run to our house, and go upstairs to get ready for bed. Santa always came early to the Pfaltzgraff house - we would wait patiently until we heard the old set of sleigh bells that my grandfather used on his old sleigh ring out. We knew then, Santa had come, and we would run downstairs to gather around the Christmas tree to see what he had left. As I flew over Iowa, I remembered one year when we all hoped that Santa would leave us a Color TV! We ran down - looked first in the living room, but there was only the old Black and White sitting in the corner where it always was. But each of us had a small gift from Santa - a pair of green tinted glasses - we were told if we put them on when the TV was on, we could see TV in color! LOL

After we opened gifts, we would all go to bed and sleep a few hours, In the middle of the night, my dad and mom would load us into our van and we would head to Blue Earth, MN to my grandmother's house for Christmas. In our van, we each had our place - mine was the third seat - where I could lay out and sleep. My two sisters would be in the seat in front of me, where my older sister Tamie would lay on the seat, and my younger sister Anne would have a bed made on the floor for her. My two younger brothers always had a bed made in the very back of the van where they would sleep...and we would drive to Minnesota.

Christmas morning was always full of preparation for my two Uncles and their families would come for our annual Christmas Celebration and meal. I remember my grandmother would have fresh baked breads, and some of the best Christmas cookies ever made! (especially those cut-out cookies with frosting - and no one since her death has been able to duplicate that frosting!!) We would then gather around the Christmas tree, with a great fire in the the fireplace and have a family worship service before opening gifts.

I remembered our first Christmas as a married couple. We lived in a small two bedroom apartment in Des Monies - we had bought a real tree and had it in front of our sliding glass door. I remember how special it was to celebrate Christmas together with my wife. It was so nice, Donna had to make me leave for an errand the first week of February so she could take down the tree without my complaining!! 

I remembered our first Christmas with our daughter. We were pastors of a United Methodist Church in Randalia, Iowa - our house was right on the edge of town. We had bought a beautiful Christmas Tree. Donna's parents came early Christmas morning and we opened gifts, and had a very nice breakfast together. After breakfast, we all got in one car and drove to Chicago to celebrate with Donna's sister and family in Libertyville - it was such a great time!

I remembered our first Christmas in Oklahoma - although we drove home Christmas Eve day to spend Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with Donna's family, we had a tree right next to our fireplace! It was so beautiful...although I remember it being quite strange to have such a warm Christmas that year, and no hope of snow! (I don't remember if we had snow that year in Iowa/Illinois or not).

By the time our flight had reached the Nebraska line, I dozed for a bit...but woke up suddenly, looked out my window and saw the East Range of the Rockies of Colorado. I looked on our flight tracker, and saw we were flying over the mountain where we lived in Rye. I remembered our first Christmas in Colorado - we had no money, but a member of our church took us shopping so we could have at least one gift each! I remember, I got Donna a new Microwave, and she got me a ski jacket! I don't remember for sure, but I think we got Kierstien a mountain bike for Christmas that year! I remember going into the woods to cut a fresh tree - and how we placed it in front of our picture window.  I remember one Christmas in Colorado Christmas fell on a Sunday - we had no plans to go to visit family that year, but my parents bought us airline tickets to fly from Colorado to Kansas City, where we then drove to Iowa for Christmas night! I also remember leaving a bag at the car rental place that night - and how they had to send it to us by next day air! 

Our flight continued across the US - and I continued to think about Christmas past. Our first Christmas in Southern California - when we got up early Christmas day, put on our bathing suits and went to the beach! I remember - by Southern California standards, it was COLD! But we were fresh from Colorado - so we thought it was pretty nice! We spent a few hours on the beach, in the water, and then went back to the house for our Christmas dinner. Our first Christmas in Arizona - we had moved to Tucson in October, and Donna's dad had a heart attack the week after we moved! We flew back to Iowa and spent three weeks there, until his death the end of November. When we got back to Arizona, we came to San Diego to move our things just before Christmas Eve! In fact, I remember unpacking on the 24th of December all day, and even got all our Christmas things up and our house decorated by the evening! We always had a tradition of doing Clam Chowder for Christmas eve - but that year we were so exhausted we went to Black Angus for Clam Chowder instead! 

As we flew into San Diego, we saw from the air the lights of Christmas. The Coronado Bridge was lit up, it looked so nice coming to our home in the US. I remembered our first Christmas in our home where we now live. The landlady had left a wreath in our garage that fit over our front window - we had put a Christmas tree in the window, decorated with white lights only and all our "old fashioned" Christmas Ornaments. Then we put the wreath on the front window. It looked so nice. We also put a live tree in our family room close to the fire. Such good memories of Christmas past!

The past three years have been so different for us at Christmas time. in 2010, Donna and I took our first trip to Africa at Christmas time. That year, for some reason, we decided to fly from Kenya to Iowa for Christmas! What a fiasco! We missed our flight from Detroit to Des Moines...and didn't get to Iowa until 11PM that night! There was lots of snow and ice that year! Kierstien came and joined us in Iowa - and she had such challenges getting out of San Diego that year too! But we had a great time with family! Last year, we flew home and got in just in time to attend our church's Christmas Service! We drove straight from the airport tot he church! Can you spell TIRED!! But it was such fun! This year, we got home at 7PM last evening (Christmas Eve). We were tired, but it was good to be home for Christmas.

So this morning, I am reflecting on Christmas past - but rejoicing in the day! We will spend a quiet day, maybe go find someplace that will serve a Christmas lunch for us (who has had time to go grocery shopping??) and then stop by and visit our Pastor and his family for a bit - and I am reflecting on Christmas future. We don't always know what the future holds - but we see a bright future filled with hope! We thought of traveling to the Mid-west again next year for Christmas - maybe one year we will celebrate Christmas in our home in Africa. But what ever the future holds, we are confident of this - Jesus is alive!

So today, we celebrate the birth of Jesus. We didn't do any shopping this year - our gift to each other was getting to the US for Christmas! But we will celebrate the birth of our best friend, our Savior! And we will celebrate the love of family and friends! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! 
                          TOGETHER WE REALLY DO MAKE THE DIFFERENCE!

These past few weeks have been very full for me. I traveled the end of September from my home in Kenya to my home in California. I only had three days at home before leaving for Colorado. One of the highlights of my year is attending the Andrew Wommack Minister’s Conference the first week of October. It is a time of refreshing for my spirit, and really needed!  Each year, God has supernaturally provided housing for me in Colorado – and this year was no exception! Some good friends and partners allowed me to stay in their “vacation rental” in Colorado Springs for the entire time! It was such a blessing.

The first Sunday in Colorado, I shared our vision with Faith Christian Fellowship in Trinidad. Pastors Bill and Sharon have been such good friends for many years! They have been so supportive and encouraging to us as we moved from pastoring a church to being full time missionaries in Africa. It was a great joy to be with them; to share what God is doing in East Africa, and to share the word! We had a number of people receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit at the end of our service – what a joy!

On Monday, our pastor joined me in Colorado Springs for the Minister’s Conference. We had such a great time in the Word and in fellowship! Other speakers at the conference were Pastor Bob Yandian of Tulsa, OK and Pastor Bob xxx of Fort Worth. We had some great times of praise and worship, good word, and great fellowship!

The Sunday following the conference, I attended church in Woodland Park, CO – Charis Fellowship Church. We had a great service – and God had such a great word for me!

In addition to the conference, I was able to see and fellowship with good friends in Pueblo – it was so good to catch up! The rest of this month I will stay based in San Diego, preparing for our next trip to Kenya.

I wanted to update my travel blog for the newsletter and give a quick report of my trip to Turkana. You can scroll below to read more about some of the adventures we had - this is only a summary.

We drove to Lodwar after the dismissal of the Bible School. The first day in Lodwar, we picked up the first team of Feed the Hungry, who were coming to document some of the things they are sponsoring in Turkana. On the second day, we drove to a small village called Edos where we talked with the people, interviewed children whose lives have been changed, and distributed food packs to the people.  After returning to Lodwar, members of the Feed the Hungry team went with the Bishop and two vehicles to pick up the president of Feed the Hungry, Pete Summral, and additional team members. 

The next morning, we all loaded into two vehicles and drove about an hour into nowhere to a small village called Sopel. Here we met with the children of the school, did a feeding of those children, spoke with the village elders and village residents, and did a food distribution of maize and a dry soup mix.  It was a long, hot day - and a real experience. While we were in Sopel, a young school girl came and began talking with me in the Turkana language. One of our interpreters was close, so he came and told me what she was asking. She asked me what disease I had that caused me loose my color. She was so sincere and caring in her request! I just smiled.

The last day in Turkana, we returned to Edos to feed school children, do more filming, and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a successful trip - we found two and possibly four young men who want to come to our Bible School in the fall. It was such a great experience - and i honestly can't wait to go back!

Today was very interesting! I was with Bishop, Robert and Sean from Feed the Hungry (FTH), our driver Hassan, and Dan, who is an administrative person here in Kenya for FTH. Together we drove from Lodwar to Edo – where the FTH team were going to prepare for an outreach tomorrow. We drove for over one hour, and we met the FTH truck coming from the south – we had missed our turn. It really isn’t surprising – there is nothing out here but dry bushes and sand! The only way you know it is a road is that there are tire marks there! We turn around, and went back until we came to the right area, where we turned to go to the interior about 6 km.  When we arrived, we found many people waiting for us.

Feed The Hungry is sponsoring a feeding program for children and helping the community to build a school for those children of the area. Currently the school meets in three “classrooms” that are made from dried bush stems – but FTH is helping them to build a nice four room school house with a teacher’s quarters. The foundation is laid, and the sand and gravel have been secured with a few new bricks to continue the work.

We were met by the community, dancing and singing! It was eye-opening to be in Turkana for the first time, and see the people we are ministering to frequently. (Bishop Javan the distribution contact for Northwestern Kenya for Feed the Hungry. The vision of FTH is to feed the body, soul, and spirit. But they feel the best way to witness in these situations is through nationals. Where I come in is that we are offering training in Ematsayi Mission for people called to full time ministry, and we are looking to train people from this area to be a witness and start churches in these villages.)

We took a lot of pictures, and I spoke to many young people individually with the help of my lousy Kiswahili and a young man who did understand my English just a bit. One young man spoke to me and said that he felt God was calling him to start a work in the area, and wanted to know if he could apply to attend our Bible School. I took his contact, and will try to work with him.

Something I learned today – hunger is real. I spoke with the chairman of the school in Edo who tells that he and his family often go for a few days with no food. If after a few days they can find nothing, they may “bleed” a goat for blood to drink, and upon occasion will roast goat meat to eat. Since goats are their livelihood, they have to be very hungry to kill a goat. For the most part, they will gather small fruits that they will boil and eat – I tasted two of them while I was there – the one was very small…even smaller than a blueberry, and had a pit in the center. The other was about the size of a blueberry, but the outer shell had to come off, and then it could be cooked to eat. Both were quite bitter – although the first one was a bit sweet. How people could sustain on these fruits is amazing to me…certainly there is hunger in this place!

The Chairman of the school too us to his home, where we saw his bedroom, living room, kitchen, store and corral where the goats are kept at night. I was told that the goats can be eaten by both Hyena’s or by leopards that come from the hills. (Is it bad that I thought it would be cool to see a leopard or hyena?) Each “room” of the dwelling is a separate “building.” I was a bit confused – I thought one of the rooms was the bedroom as there were mats on the floor – but turns out the bedrooms had no mats, they just sleep in the dust…the mats were places where they can sit in their sitting room – and where they eat their meals.

The conditions these people live in are so primitive…they are truly hungry, truly in need, and truly ready to receive the good news of Jesus Christ! I did have one young man come to me after we distributed food asking if he could somehow join our Bible school. By faith, I told him if he could get to Kakamega, I would make sure he was taken care of. Thank you so much for helping us be a witness to these people! In this area, only 1% of the population is evangelical – and probably most of them are in town, not in the bush. To be a witness in the bush, in the small villages will make such a great impact! Together we really DO make the difference.

Adventures in Africa! What else can I call these?

Saturday morning we were to be ready at 8AM to begin a trip to Lodwar - we were to drive to Kitale, visit a pastor's widow in West Pokot, then spend the night there. Early Sunday morning we would then leave by 7AM to drive to Lodwar - well, we left about noon on Saturday for Kitale, but all was well, and we accomplished everything we set out to do.

The trip to Kitale was really quite uneventful - we arrived in Kitale by 3 or so, and immediately after checking into our hotel drove to West Pokot to visit the pastor's widow and pray for her family. We got back to Kitale before dark, had dinner, then walked to the market (about six blocks away) to do some quick shopping before retiring for the night.

Sunday morning, I was up at 5AM to get my shower (for some reason, the water heater would not heat my water, so I had a cold shower) and get ready for the trip. As I was taking my "cold" shower, I reminded myself that I had heard Lodwar was VERY HOT so would probably wish i could take that night too! Anyway, we left by 7:15 and began our journey. We drove from Kitale, through West Pokot, into Turkana. I found this online about the journey from the United Naitons...actually I found it online AFTER we arrived in Lodwar!

"All travel by road north of Kapenguria require armed police escort. ... where mandatory escort are required, you must obtain written clearance (Fax or email) from the head of your organization in Kenya. ... Kitale - Lodwar 298 km - 8 hours"

When we arrived in kapenguira, there was no police escort for us - we were told we could either drive on without an escort, or wait for a few 'hours" to see if one could be arranged. We all felt peace about moving forward, so we continued our journey with NO POLICE escort!

At one point, the driver remembered one other time he drove through the area, and remembered where bandits shot at him and hit his car - so he stepped on the gas pretty hard to get through the area quickly. But you have to know HOW BAD THE ROADS ARE!! So here we are, diving in an area we have been warned not to go without police, and speeding on roads that are horrid! I was just thinking about all of that when we began to spin out of control on the highway (it is called a super highway, but I have no idea why - there is barely any pavement, mostly just sand, gravel, dirt and what is left of tarmac). On either side of the road was a culvert that was not too bad, but with our high profile vehicle, I had an instant vision of the vehicle flipping...and it certainly felt like it was about to flip! Our driver was very skilled, and kept the car from turning over, but it went straight into some bushes and a set of trees! Wham! We came to a sudden halt, but no one was injured, not even jarred too much.

Remember - we are in Africa, in a dangerous area, and now in the bushes up against trees! YEP - the driver put it in reverse, stepped on it, backed out of the bushes, back on the highway, and hit the gas again! Thus we drove to Lokichar without stopping! In Lokichar, we stopped to check the car - there was some exhaust damage, and it felt to me like some shocks or springs were damaged - but those will be fixed today here in Lodwar. We did arrive safely in Lodwar about 4PM local time Sunday night.

We were booked at the St. Theresaa Guest house, and when we checked in, we were told that we had only one room, not two - there were two single beds in the room, so I said no problem, Bishop Javan and I have shared rooms before - but they were going to charge us the same as if we had two separate rooms, so he decided to go elsewhere for one night. After Sunday night they will have enough rooms for everyone. I spent Sunday evening in my hot room with the fan is on HIGH, it is hot as blazes, but i am feeling so good to be here safe and sound!


It is now Monday morning - and I am showered, dressed and fed. I think today will mostly be waiting around for another group from the US and Australia to come and work with us. So, I will catch up on some reading, so some writing, and hopefully get a newsletter done. Will post more as we travel along! 

Grace & Peace - TOGETHER we really DO make the difference!!

1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment…”

Whose “perfect love” is the Apostle John talking about here? Is it our love toward God, or God’s love toward us? It must be God’s love toward us! I know God wants us to get a full revelation of this love – this perfect love with which he loves us!

I am just finishing a very successful trip to East Africa…as I write this message, I am preparing to head to Narok to work among the Masaai people for a few days, then on to Nairobi for a few days before returning to the United States. One thing that impressed me so much this trip was once again how much the Word of God affects the way I live and move in East Africa. When I arrive in Nairobi, I normally stay in what American’s would consider a tenement apartment structure – a small two bedroom one bath apartment with no working running water. The streets below bustle from before sun-up to well after sun-down. Below the apartment are bars and clubs – that play loud music and have men and women drinking well into the night. During the day, there are open-market “hotels” or restaurants that fix chapatti, fry fish, make Ugali, fry Mandazi, roast corn, and grill chicken and beef – sometimes even goat. 

In the midst of the street, people will burn their trash – and the smells of the area are to say the least pungent.  I have been told that Donna and I are the only white people who have stayed in the complex ever – although I am quite sure maybe that isn’t so true.  When I’m ready to travel to our home in Western Kenya, I board a public (although quite modern) bus to make the 10 hour drive from Nairobi to Kakamega.  It is not uncommon for us to be the only white people on the bus – although many times we have ridden with other missionaries or other expatriates. When I arrive in Kakamega, it is usually nearly dark – and we drive the 30 minute drive to our mission in the bush.

Once there, our compound is open to the rest of the world…there is a barb-wired fence that surrounds the compound, but for the most part there are numerous breaks in the wire, and a number of places where people can pass to walk through our compound. We do not have running water in our home – but must hire a local young man to haul water from the well (about 1km away) to a tank that sits on top of an unused cement water tank to the side of our house. The water from the well is safe to drink, but the tank is not clean, so we cannot drink the water through the tap.  In many people’s minds, our living conditions are unsafe, and even dangerous.  Some in our area have built fences around their compounds with rock, brick, cement, or thorny bushes. Some put guards at their Iron gates to keep people from entering. (We do have a police sub-station on our property, but they do not “guard” our entrance – they use it!)

In our daily lives, I have never felt fear of any kind being in East Africa. I believe the reason for this is simple – I know how much God loves me! And there is no fear in love! I know what God has called us to do, and I know that while our living conditions are not as “safe” as we may feel in the United States, that love in us keeps us safe! The key to living free from fear is to have the revelation of God’s perfect love in your life! People who are constantly living in fear cannot conquer that fear, regardless of what they try. They may try to “think positively” all the time – yet deep within, fear still remains.  You can tell you how “safe” you are in your compound – but if fear is in you, it will still manifest as you cannot reason yourself out of fear either! No...fear must be cast out. And we cannot cast it out any other way than knowing the Love of God.

There is nothing more powerful than the love of God. When we get this revelation, nothing we face becomes impossible. We are no longer “afraid” of doing something.  We can step out of our boats of complacency and begin to walk by faith! Today I am praying for you – that you will get a revelation of how much God loves you. He has called you by your name – and called you to be a success in everything you do!