Who is Frank?

Hello Friends and Family!
A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to spend a week in Thika, Kenya after our time in Samburu. I remember Sam thinking he was "swimming in a sea of estrogen" at the very beginning of our time here this summer, and that's just because he has been with six women all day, every day while here... If he thought that was a sea of estrogen then... what do you think he was thinking when we were in Thika we helped host none other than.. a Women's conference! A team of women from the Women's Ministry at South East Church in Kentucky flew to Kenya and put on a conference for women in Kenya who traveled very far to learn about how to remain strong in their faith. I think about 100 women were there that week, but luckily Sam had two MALE LIA representatives who helped keep his sanity that week. As Mi2s, we got to spend a lot of time behind the scenes and offer our help whenever needed, but it was a great week to see how God moves through women throughout the world. It was so much fun for us to be able to reconnect with people we previously met earlier in June. It felt great to say that we had already met some people and were able to talk as friends a few weeks later.. The South East team went through the book of Joshua to try to relate that to the womens' lives to stand strong and firm in their beliefs in God, and through that, God will tear down the walls in their lives and help them overcome any obstacles that life brings.
As Americans often think, we go into trips/meetings/conferences like these and think that with leading these powerful bible studies, we can change lives of others.. But I believe that through the moments of "girlfriending" (yes, this was on our schedule for the week. And no, Sam was not involved with it..) and through times of sharing and hearing testimonies of married/unmarried women in America and testimonies of married/unmarried women in Africa- lives were definitely changed... Not only did the Kenyans learn from the American women from their Bible study, but the American women walked away changed and transformed because of the stories that were shared by the Kenyan women.
This was one of my prayers throughout the whole week, and I can see where God was faithful in changing lives all around. We serve an awesome God who is the same in Kentucky, Colorado, and Kenya. He is mighty to save and uses our personal trials/struggles to help other people see that they, too can overcome similar trials in their lives. -This was obvious to see in our week in Thika and I am grateful to have been behind the scenes to see it all lay out.
Although none of us Mi2s are necessarily "fit" to host/run a women's conference (no matter where we are in the world), we had a great time getting to know more of the LIA staff members, the women of the different communities LIA is connected with, and of course the wonderful women from South East. It was very special for us to be able to talk with them, get to know them, laugh with them, and hear their life journey's (and one lady even set up a hair salon in her Guest house room and cut mine, molly rays, nicole's, and sawyer's rugged, african-worn hair!!)
Thika was good to us, God is good, God is faithful, and we owe all of our praises to Him, who provides.
Sorry these blogs are so out of order, but we hope you're enjoying the posts. We are all healthy and "rested" (it is our rest week here in Kenya...and our last week here as well). We love you all and are praying for you.
Mungu aku bariki,
Mwende/Naserian/Elise/Omi
("the loved one" (in Kamba)/ "One who brings peace" (in Maasai) We're so officially Kenyan now with our names.. its insane.)