First Update as a Married Fellow

Dear Friends and Family,

It is with GREAT joy that we write to you together, as husband and wife!

We are so grateful to all of you who wrote, sent emails, text messages, phone calls and have prayed for us over these past few weeks. We are also grateful for your incredible generosity!

After enjoying a beautiful week in various places throughout Southern California, we are back and ready for what comes next?

So the question may be asked… what IS next?

THAT is a GREAT question!

Here is a breakdown of our next few months in the United States:

• April 30-May 6: Southern California
• May 6-May 9: Indianapolis, Indiana – CMF Board Meeting
• May 11-May 12: Waco, Texas
• May 12-May 25: Houston, Texas
• May 25-29: Lubbock, Texas
• May 29-June 1: Joplin, Missouri
• June 1-June 8: Houston, Texas
• June 8-June 11: Portland, Oregon
• June 11-June 21: Southern California
• June 21-June 24: Ryan in Austin, Texas
• June 24-July 2: Southern California
• July 2-3: Back to Houston to return to Kenya

We would love to meet with you while we are here, please let us know if you would like to schedule a time for catching up, and sharing about life and ministry!

During the next week we ask you to pray for:

Our time in Indianapolis next week. During the CMF Board Meeting we will be presenting a short bit about the Hope Partnership and our roles. We have a few meetings with those in the CMF Head Office to discuss our next year with CMF and future service plans. (Including financial information. Please pray for clarity in discerning what our vision for the next year will be regarding our individual ministry roles in the Hope Partnership.

We will be writing again soon!

Ryan and Justine Hayes

Here are a few moments captured by Justine’s cousin from the ceremony:

Leaving for the States tomorrow…

Greetings dear friends and family;

It may be logical for me to first apologize for not sending out very many updates during the past two months. I shouldn’t have any excuses at all, but perhaps I could say that these recent months have accommodated a plethora of happenings which have brought definite joy to my life, yet has also succeeded in scattering my thoughts in a multiplicity of directions .

Within these past months: we have had the joy of housing a good deal of visitors and family from the States, enjoying the addition of new roommates and co-workers, increasing our microfinance clients and group intake by about 10%, jumped to further stages of a possible business plan for the Mathare area, working further to maintain our online lending platform in Big Dent, all the while finding ourselves just three weeks away from getting married!-which of course has involved a good deal of planning on top of the rest. Indeed, this season has been full of work yet just as full of Grace.

Which leads me to my next point; Justine and I will be traveling back to the States tomorrow. We are both very excited to see and to enjoy good conversations with many of you over the next couple of months. As has already been said, we’ll be in the States for some few months and then returning to Kenya. We pray that many of you will remain in partnership with us.

So may we humbly request for your prayers during our travels – not so much that things will go smoothly for us; but rather for a faithful attentiveness to the presence of God regardless of whether flights are delayed, luggage lost, appointments missed…etc.; that we don’t miss the joy of finding the God who waits for us in every particular person and concrete situation as we in turn eagerly await his loud, yet discreet rising, just beyond this Lenten season.

We pray this very same thing for each of you.

 

Masai Mara Safari Pictures

Below are some pics from the recent trip to Masai Mara with Justine and her mom, Jamie. It was a great time.

Cultural Insights and Money Matters, Part I: Giving

One of the books that I am currently working my way back through is called ‘African Friends and Money Matters’ by David Maranz. It is an anthropological study of various ‘African’ ways of dealing with money in juxtaposition with the typical ‘Western’ mindset; so I figured I may relay some insights from the book on occasion.

One that has struck me as particularly helpful recently is stated as number 8 (of 90):

Africans assist their friends who are in financial need as a form of investment for those future times when they themselves might have needs.  This arrangement constitutes a virtual banking or savings system.

Microfinance, Part II: Are Clients Really at the Center?

(You’ll recall my introduction to microfinance as the first of this series on particular issues within microfinance.)

Needless to say, most financial institutions thrive on growth. The question is whether this remains true within the realm of microfinance. For some, an increase in clientele suggests an increase in cash flow which (if costs are even somewhat maintained) can produce, at least in theory, the possibility of profits.  And this can be okay. It is hard to not want to see your particular organization having an effect on more and more peoples and communities and generating a profit for continued possible growth.

But as we all know, with growth comes challenge. I suspect it is true for many organizations, but for microfinance in particular, growth necessarily begets a whole slew of questions,

A Goat Roast and a Farewell (in that order)

For the purpose of wishing Eric a proper farewell, the Microfinance dept. gathered together once again at the house of the Ham’s which is also somewhat the house of Eric and I. Though the primary objective was to wish Eric a congregated blessing as he leaves, we had another agenda of roasting a goat! which produced far more meat than 17 people could eat (and we even gave a meal to the Ham’s and some others and I still have a whole lot of meat in my fridge)…

 mmm…goat.

Sewing Training Graduation at MOHI

Some of us at Missions of Hope had the massive privilege of attending the Sewing Training Graduation on Friday. This marks the end of the six-month skills training program conducted by the head trainer, Mary. Through this training, the women learned skills of being able to create all sorts of clothes for both men and women, as well as being able to make blankets, bags and being trained in the art of repairs and tailoring as well. By the end of this particular training, 30 women graduated and were then given the sewing machine as a gift to go and start their own business from their homes. Many of the women have already done so.

Needless to say, it is on days like this graduation that we recognize the reason we are here. Not only do these women learn valuable skills,