Our summer got off to a great start, as we were able to spend several weeks in the good ol’ USA. We travelled home for the joyous celebration of Lydia’s sister Bethany marrying Trygve Lundgren. We are so happy for them and could not be more excited to have such a fantastic new brother-in-law. The wedding was so beautiful and we enjoyed the opportunity to also see friends and family that we had not seen in nine months!
June is also an eventful time for the Lund family in Kansas as they harvest their wheat crop. Tyler was able to participate in his 25th harvest. Driving the combine, tractor, and trucks, as well as spending quality time with his Dad, Mom, brothers, friends, and Grandparents is always a treat this time of year.
While our time in Minnesota and Kansas was restful and relatively peaceful, our return to Kenya was a lot more eventful. We arrived home at 2:30 am (Nairobi time), excited to jump into bed, only to find that we were locked out of our apartment! We had lent one set of keys to some friends and had been locked out of one too many doors. We stayed the night in our car during what is now Kenya’s winter, chilly! The next morning, our car would not start, and we learned that it had been hit by a neighbor while we were away. When our friend came with the keys, we found our electricity had been disconnected. While we had to clean out all the food in our refrigerator and sit in the dark for four days, we are now more appreciative than ever of electricity and food that can be cooked and chilled in our home!
(4th of July celebrations included whiffle ball, goat meat and hamburgers)
We welcomed Lydia’s brother Stephen to Kenya on Sunday, July 5. He will be staying with us for five weeks, working with First Love, Partners Worldwide, and Ambassadors in Sport (AIS). AIS is a football ministry that two of our good friends, Stephen and Josh work with. He is excited to combine football and ministry during these upcoming weeks.
It was such a blast to return to work this week, oh how we missed the kids and those we work with! Although we don’t have too much time left in Kenya, we are praying that the Lord helps us to be intentional with the relationships we have formed and ministries that we have invested in. It has been a huge blessing and encouragement to find that various people and ministries we are involved in have been working beautifully during our weeks away.
Thank you for your continued prayer and encouragement, we have just under three months left in this amazing country. We hope and pray that every minute is God honoring and increasingly effective. We hope you had a great 4th of July, celebrating our nation’s freedom and hopefully reflecting on the incredible freedom we have in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Much love and Mungu awa bariki (God bless you all),
Tyler and Lydia