The Road to Kenya 2013

If you are reading this, then you are here to hear about my missions trip to Kenya.  Every post here will be about my journey to Kenya, including what God is teaching me (even as I am preparing to go), how far I have come in the sponsorship aspect of the trip, adventures I go on etc.  Let’s first hear about the incredible work that God has been doing to prepare me for this trip.

I knew that I wanted to be a missionary, though I didn’t really know where.  I was thinking more towards South America, on the sole factor that I know the Spanish language.  When I was looking into going to places like Guatemala and Brazil, my heart simply didn’t feel full, something was missing.  So I thought maybe towards Africa.  I was searching for some kind of confirmation that Africa was the place for me, when I ran into a friend whom I havent seen in 6 years. I told him my story and my thoughts of Africa, and his immediate response was to talk to this man he knows from his church.  This church man goes by the name of Steven Mbogo.  He is the founder of an orphanage called ByGrace Trust Orphanage in Ngog, Kenya.  I was obviously very excited because children’s ministry is something that I have always loved and have a passion for.  I even do children’s ministry here in La Mirada at my home church of Grace EV Free of La Mirada.  I immediately went back to look for the place online.  I found their website and my heart started beating faster, I was pumped.  So I emailed Steven and after several weeks of emailing, we were both excited for my future with the orphanage.  He asked me to come to a meeting that was being held at the university that I go to.  It was a meeting for the people who were going on a short term missions trip to Kenya this summer.  While at this meeting I found out that one of the things that the orphanage has been praying for was a coach to come and teach them how to play sports right.  For those of you who do not know, I am a coaching minor.  I have been trained and taken multiple classes on how to teach children to play soccer, volleyball, basketball, track and field, swimming, tennis, swimming, and of course water polo.  Once I told them this they said “Praise the Lord” and I knew this was the place for me.  Literally a couple sentences later they said that they have been praying that someone could come in and play guitar with the children and help teach them to be in a band/dance.  Well, I raised my hand and exclaimed that I have played guitar for 5 years, and have helped lead worship in other countries like Mexico.  Steven came up to me afterwards and told me that he thinks I am an answer to their prayers.  I almost broke down and cried right there.  God knew from the get go that I was going to be going to Kenya, He has been preparing my heart and preparing a path for me.  I cannot wait for my time in Kenya.

It will be hard to leave everything that I know and love here, for instance my water polo team that I coach.  I havent taken a vacation or time away from them in 2 years, and I am leaving for 5 months.  I know it will be hard but God has me through all things.  I am constantly reminded of God’s amazing sovereignty over everything.  Our God is great!  Keep checking this page every week for weekly updates about fundraising, sponsorship and my time in Kenya

God Bless,

Josh Grossman

Let me first start off with you God is so amazing!! HE has been so gracious and evident along my journey thus far.  In donations as of right now I have physically raised $360 with a verbal donation of $1000.  So all together I have raised $1360 and I haven’t even sent out physical support letters yet!!  Summer is full fledged here in southern California with me working sometime 50 hours per week.  While it may seem like a slow process let me promise you that support letters are in the making!  Hopefully I will even be able to create a video of my cause with the help of my roommate Evan, who is a film major. (Still have to talk to him about that).  Anyways God’s work is blowing my mind and I cannot wait to get to Kenya and help these orphans. While at the same time a wise friend has helped me realize that I am needed here and God has me HERE in SoCal for a reason. I know that God is doing great things in my life here and will do great things there.  

Thanks for reading,

Josh

Hey Everyone,

Well you guys are doing it again! Y’all are blessing me more and more every day!! I have almost raised $2000 to date!! That means only about 4 to 5000 dollars left!!  Support letters are out and if you are reading this hopefully you got one!  

The things I have been struggling with lately is deciding if the devil is working against me right now, or if God is making me eat my own words!  Long story short,  My hours at work have been cut significantly and thus I will not be making a whole lot of money!  It is funny that this happened right as I send out support letters saying that I am in financial need!  I think that God is teaching me how to be faithful to Him to provide in the money aspect of life.  My whole adult life I have never really had to worry about money, because I have always worked hard enough to always have enough money!  I think God is calling me out and wants me to trust in Him for all things!! 

With any trip to do God’s will, the devil will be against me, constantly trying to get me to turn around and not listen to God’s will for me!  Please continue to pray against spiritual warfare in my life!!  All of you out there are such blessings in my life! Thank you and praise be to God!

Signing off,

Josh Grossman

God is good.  All my money for my missions trip to Kenya has been raised and now I am in the final preparatory stages.  All that is left to do is get my shots, and renew my passport and I will be on my way.  You amazing supporters have helped me out so much on my Journey to Kenya! I will be updating weekly while I am there.  I cant wait to see what God has in store for me in Kenya. If you are still looking to help there are still ways.  My shots and passport renewal can get pretty pricey so there is still things to help with.  Again I am so thankful to God and to you all for supporting me whether through prayer or money gifts.  You all hold a special place in my heart!! 

God Bless,

Josh Grossman

Well, the day is swiftly approaching where I board a plane and head into a slum outside of Nairobi, Kenya.  Thank you guys for following me thus far as I prepare to leave on this 5 month long mission trip.  If I am to be completely honest, I am scared to leave.  I am typically good going with the flow and being able to cope well with change.  Saying this, I have never really had this much change before.  When I went to college I moved a whole 1 city away from my home town, and I was able to see my parents almost every day.  This will definitely be a different experience for me.  If you all could pray that I can minimize my culture shock and fear of going to an unknown place.  No one ever said that following God’s plan would be a cake walk.  I can feel the enemy trying to do his part to push me off God’s path for me.  I know I can persevere and God has brought me this far.  Through His faithfulness and provision I have raised more than enough money, and more is continuing to pour in.  I am pretty much all set until I board the plane and leave for Kenya.  

While I am there a group of 7 students from Biola will be there for a couple weeks.  Please pray that God would bless their trip as well and use them in miraculous ways.  This will probably be my last update until I am in Kenya!!! So crazy this is all happening so fast! :)

Love you all,

Josh Grossman

As I sit here in Kenya, I find myself feeling alone, but at the same time not alone!  All of the kids at the orphanage are with their guardians for the next couple weeks, leaving me at ByGrace with not much to do.  Life is way different without the children here, it’s boring.  Despite not having the kids around, I don’t feel too alone because I feel close to God!  I know that God is with me here even when no one else is!  This tells me that I am definitely growing in Christ out here in Africa.  The first time I was left without any kids here I felt so alone and helpless!  It was a terrible time, but I can feel and see my growth in Christ as of late!  I have a little over a month left here in Kenya, and I know God is going to do even greater things in me and through me during this time! 

Before the kids all left I had the best 2 weeks with them!  They were out of school and had so much time to just hang out and bond!  In fact I was going to see my friends the Ferguson Family in Rongai, which is about 45 minutes away on the motorcycle.  I told the kids I would return the next day and a couple of the girls started crying! They said they wanted me to stay because I only had a handful of weeks left with them!  It felt so good to see that I am making connections with these kids.  Sometimes I feel that the background of these kids prevents them from really showing some emotion and really bonding with others.  I love knowing that I am making an impact on their lives!  

Although I am having a blast here in my last couple weeks, I find home is on my mind a lot!  Now, there isn’t a problem thinking of home and whats to come in a month.  In fact it’s probably natural for me to be thinking this way.  I just wan’t not make sure that I am staying present here when there are other Kenyans present!  So you can all be praying that I may find a balance of Kenya and debriefing for America!  

A funny note: People around Kenya especially adults around ByGrace have been saying that I am a Kenyan.  This is due to me learning swahili and they say that they can see my passion for the people of Kenya! So I have been telling them “Mimi ni mKenya moyoni” which means I am a Kenyan at heart in Kiswahili.

Miss and Love you all,

Josh Grossman