Meeting No. 3!

Another meeting came by on Friday evening at our house! It seems that our place is now one of the go-to meeting spots. Probably because we can seat quite a few people on our couches in the basement! :)

The meeting was productive! This time, we covered more in-depth our schedule for Kenya. We covered what we would be doing on a day-to-day basis. This will help us go through our month at Lance's Deaf Orphans much more smoothly. We even have a theme set up for our LDO camp: Bible Stories!

We need to take into thought the age group, intelligence capacity, and lessons that would be significant and would apply to these orphans at Kenya. We are excited to be teaching them the most important Bible stories. By the next meeting we should have all activities developed for our month at LDO. Looking forward to doing hat in the next two weeks!

Today, we also gave a presentation to our church (Christ's Church of the Deaf) in regards to our trip to LDO for the month of June. It went very smoothly and we are glad! We, including Dallas who is a fellow team member for the trip, are asking CCD for a donation to support us financially for our trip. Please pray that we will achieve our fundraising goal of $7,500 before June.

Have a wonderful evening! God bless you all.

Team meeting tonight!

Tonight, we had a team meeting. We talked about many exciting things. We have developed an initial schedule and what our vision is for our Africa trip. Although we focused mainly on the details for Kenya in June, the team has briefly touched on Uganda for July (although we will not be with them for that). We are so excited and have set another meeting for next week; we are ready to get this rolling!


God bless you all!

The team...

Here is the team who we will be going with to Africa this summer! This was copied from the ODO website (http://odeafo.com/the-teams.html).

My name is Jason, my wife and I live in Council Bluffs, IA.  In 2011, I felt the calling to become a missionary and that led me to IBTC. Moving here has provided me with the opportunity to see this calling come alive in this chance to go to Africa. I am excited to see where God leads us on this trip and hereafter. 

My name is Mistie Suhr and I live in Council Bluffs, IA, with my husband, Jason. I have a strong passion for being a missionary (specifically with children) and I have always wanted to be a part of watching and helping them grow. I'm excited to be going to Africa and see how God will take care of the needs of children around me!

My name is Javier Reyes from Austin, Texas. I am a student at International Bible Training Center (IBTC) at Deaf Missions. I love hacky sack, swimming, Mexican food and video games.    

My name is Dallas Brock, and I am from Helton, KY.   I am currently a student at IBTC in Council Bluffs, IA. My heart aches for the orphans and I want share the gospel with them. My goal is Youth Ministry and being a missionary. I love God and I love basketball. Africa would be a great opportunity for me.

My name is Moises Arteaga. I was born in Baja Tijuana, Mexico, but moved to Nebraska when I was 5 years old. I'm married to a beautiful wife, Kristina, and we have three lovely dogs: Fox, Star, and Soby. I came from a wonderful family who gave me so much love and taught me many words of God. I love kids and I feel I have a lot to offer for deaf orphans! I want them to know that Deaf people can accomplish anything in life when you depend on God.

Hello! My name is Kristina Lorenzo-Arteaga, and I hail from New Jersey. I have been a long time resident of Nebraska, and currently own a home in Omaha. I am intrigued for the trip to Africa! These orphans are lacking the special bond the most of us have with our parents. I want to be able to provide them with some security, hope, enrichment, enjoyment, and all through His word!

I was born Kathleen Frances Roberts, but now everyone knows me as Kat.  I currently live in Provo, Utah with my husband, Ben Jarashow and three children (all of them were born with fangs, four legs, a tail, and extreme hairiness, but don't tell them). My current passion in life is restoring furniture and renovating our 1968 house. Ever since I went to China and visited the Bo'ai Deaf School, I've felt a calling to work with deaf children that haven't had as much in life as I have.  So, this trip to Africa is a dream come true. 

Our first blog!

Hello! We are excited to start our blog about our mission trip coming up this summer! For the month of June, God has offered us the opportunity to go to Kenya with Operations Deaf Orphans (ODO), a non-profit organization headed by Alex and Alexa Abenchuchan. This mission trip will include seven other deaf individuals and it is ODO’s plan to spend the month of June in Kenya and the month of July in Uganda. For us, we feel a month’s trip to Kenya best fits our schedule and availability.

There are many orphans in Africa; based on UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), there are 53 million orphans, and many of them are deaf. It is common that African children have a higher prevalence of illness that will lead to hearing loss: typhoid, malaria, and high fever. WorldVision has found that Kenya and Uganda each have 2.5 million orphans. Although there are several organizations that are committed to work with orphans in Africa, we would like to give our support to these established organizations, giving them a boost!

During our month’s stay in Kenya, we will be visiting Lance’s Deaf Orphans (LDO), headed by Lance McWilliams. Lance himself is a deaf gentleman who resides in Colorado, but manages the orphanage that is located at Kisii, Kenya. Kisii is approximately four hours west of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and about two hours from Lake Victoria. LDO was originally established by a gentleman in 1997, but passed onto Lance in 2008-2009. The orphanage currently holds 14 orphans between the ages of 5 and 10, and is held together by a few staff volunteers.

LDO has the potential to foster more orphans, but is at a financial limit to successfully take care of only 14. We intend to serve LDO through a month-long summer camp during our stay. This summer camp will contain various activities that will contain His word. We want to teach these children about God, and his power and love. We also want to see these children achieve goals in their future by showing that as Deaf individuals, we are still capable of accomplishing many things.

We would like you to help pray for us and for our team. We will need prayers that God will prepare us for our trip and bless our efforts. We will also need prayers that our financial needs will be met. We have a fundraising goal of $7,500, where $3,000 will go to airfare for the both of us, $2,000 will go to room and board, and $2,500 will go directly to the orphans. Upon arrival in Kenya and visiting with LDO, we will use the $2,500 for various projects to support the camp and provide needs for the orphans. For example, we know for a fact that LDO is in a great need for a new water tank for the orphanage, but that is among one of the many things they are in need for. We feel we can best use the money when we arrive LDO and actually see what they are in great need of.

Here is a current picture of the orphans and volunteers at Lance’s Deaf Orphans. Lance is in the middle back row. You will be able to count the 14 orphans in this picture!

Lance's Deaf Orphans

Would you consider supporting us with a donation? You can either make a check (payable to Deaf Missions, with “Moises & Kristina Arteaga” on the Memo line) or pay on-line via a debit/credit card through www.deafmissionsstore.com/odoteam.html, and in the Comments box, PLEASE indicate “Donation is for Moises & Kristina Arteaga”). If you are donating for our mission trip through Deaf Missions, you will receive a tax-deductible receipt! 

If you have any additional questions or are curious about our trip, please don’t hesitate to contact us by leaving a comment! Feel free to visit ODO’s website (www.odeafo.com), LDO’s website (www.lancesdeaforphans.com), or our blog. We look forward to hearing from you!

With His love,

Moises & Kristina