More Kenya 2010

Kenya 2010

Mungu akubariki ndugu yangu na dada!

God bless you my brothers and sisters!

Greetings to you in the name of Jesus Christ! We praise God everyday for the work that God’s Spirit is doing in and through you. As many of you might know, Kaury and I are currently attending Asbury Theological Seminary. I am pursuing a Master of Arts in Theological Studies and Kaury is pursuing a Master of Divinity. During our studies here we have had an opportunity to learn from some of the top scholars and theologians of the world. We have not just grown in our knowledge and understanding of Christ theologically, but spiritually as well, due to Asbury’s focus on spiritual formation. In addition, Asbury has been a great opportunity for us to meet fellow ministers of Christ from all areas of the world who are pursuing their God given calls with passion and zeal.

In one of the classes that we attended this past semester, we met Paul Korir. Paul is an Anglican Priest from Eldoret, Kenya who is pursuing a Master of Arts in Theological Studies. Even though Paul, Kaury, and I were in class together, it was not until Kaury was given the opportunity to preach and share one of his spiritual gifts that we all truly became friends. After preaching over the story of Zaccheus in the form of a narrative, Paul approached Kaury and called Kaury his “Kenyan brother.” Paul praised Kaury for his preaching and story telling capabilities. He even claimed that Kaury preached like a true Kenyan and said that his preaching would make a huge impact in the churches in Paul’s home country!

Paul has not only affirmed Kaury through his kind words and friendship, but has recently extended an invitation for Kaury and I to come to his home in Eldoret, Kenya. He has asked Kaury to preach in his churches during the month of July in Eldoret. We will leave July 1st. Then Ashley will return on the 16th and I will return on the 28th. Paul has graciously committed to providing all of my accommodations during our stay in Eldoret, including our housing, food, and local transportation. The only expense that we are responsible for is our roundtrip airfare and any spending money we would like to take. This is a once and a lifetime opportunity that we cannot pass up!

We have been presented with the opportunity to promote the Kingdom of God with a fellow brother in Christ in his home ministry. This is an opportunity for us to learn, grow, and share with a culture we have never experienced. Kaury will be given the opportunity to preach three Sunday services, visit Paul’s congregation, accompany Paul in his daily pastoral duties, and even work in an orphanage for disabled children during the week. Ashley will joining Paul’s wife Selline in her current ministry of working with inner-city women.

We write to you dear brothers and sisters to ask for your prayers while we prepare for this exciting journey and mission that God has called us to. We also write to ask for your financial support. As seminary students, we cannot supply the monetary means alone. Any aid you can provide will be greatly appreciated. If you could please send your gifts to our current mailing address:

104 N. Lexington Ave. #16

Wilmore, KY 40390

Again please pray for Paul, Kaury, and I as we prepare for our ministry this summer in Kenya and for the people that we will encounter. Pray that we will be God’s tool in promoting the Kingdom. Ultimately, pray that our service will be glorifying to Jesus Christ, Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

In Christ,

Ashley Edwards and Kaury C. Edwards

Kenya 2010

It is official!! Kaury and I will be traveling to Kenya on July 1st and returning to Kentucky on July 16th. Our friend and peer has graciously invited us to stay with his family and share in their ministry in Eldoret, Kenya. Kaury and I could not pass up this opportunity. So, we will be joining Paul and his wife Selline in their home ministries. Kaury will be preaching and working in a community center for disabled children, while I will be tagging along side Selline in here work with inner-city women and providing empowering opportunities for them. We are very excited about this opportunity!! Please pray for us! We have so much to get ready and we are busy enough as it is. But you are only living a truly good story outside the bounds of comfort!!

Kenya here we come!!!!

Not the greatest bloggers!

Well I guess the Edwards clan is not so great at the blogging! Between school, work, and church there just isn't much time for anything else except SLEEP! :) But somehow we manage to get it all done and enjoy our Kentucky life.

Recently Kaury has decided to go to Eldoret, Kenya for the month of July. He was invited by a fellow peer here at ATS and accepted the invitation to preach and work at an orphanage in our friend's home country. He is very excited for such an awesome opportunity. He loves to travel and to do ministry, so this is just his "cup of tea." Hopefully, I will be able to join him for part of the trip, but we are still working the kinks out. We shall find out soon! It just all depends on finances and work schedule. So pray for us as we plan this excursion.

More exciting news.....well exciting to just me. I got to see Donald Miller speak at Southland Christian Church yesterday night! It was pretty neat to see the man in person and hear him speak, but I must say I was not completely blown away. To be quiet honest I hate to read something then meet the author. It is like seeing the movie after reading the book. It just isn't as good. Not that Miller wasn't great, I just like him on paper better. The Miller in person just wasn't the Miller in my head. :)

Even more exciting news (especially for all you Texans!)....Kaury and I are going to be visiting Lubbock and Tulia from March 26 to April 2. We know it is impossible to see everyone, but we will try our hardest. I is going to be great to eat some real Tex-Mex and Authentic Mexican food! We miss it sooo much! So if you want to see us, take us out for a good spicy dinner and you have got yourself a date. :)

All in all life in Kentucky is great. We are just busy with school and work, but we are loving every minute of it!

Starbucks, Cokesbury, and Asbury = Our Life

Over the past month, we have started many new things. We both have jobs and have officially started the semester at ATS! It has been new, fun, exciting, and a little overwhelming all at the same time.

Kaury is a barista at Starbucks and loving every moment of it. The store is in downtown Lexington, so his customers are very diverse. From business men and women who make 6 figures to the local homeless men and women who come in for free water. It is a new adventure every day for Kaury and a great ministry experience. Plus, we get free coffee and tea every week!! Which is a huge plus when you are a working student!

Ashley is working for Cokesbury bookstore on Asbury's campus. Before moving down to Wilmore, she stated that she would love a job with books. (We both love to read and are constantly adding to our library.) Luckily, her prayers were answered!! She is working with great people, has very flexible hours, and is surrounded by books. Then there is the added bonus of having 30% off! (We know what our families are getting for Christmas, coffee and books!)

We have being working at our jobs for almost a month now, but school just started this past Tuesday. We were both a little nervous about what to expect. We feel that Wayland Baptist has prepared us well for Seminary, but we both feared the unknown. Fortunately, we had nothing to be scared about. Our first week of classs went really well. We are taking two classes together, Kingdom, Church, and World and Method and Praxis. Then Kaury is taking Philosophy of Religion and Ashley is taking Anthropolgy of Christian Mission. Ashley was taking another class as well, but decided to drop it and settle for 9 hours this first semester. Primal and Folk Religions proved to be a little much to take on the first semester of Seminary. Especially since it was a 700 level class full of phd students! (A little scary!) Overall, it seems that it will be a great semester. We are excited about the scholarship and experience Asbury has to offer. We are truly grateful to be here!

Our First Blog!

Our first blog! Well we are here in Wilmore, Kentucky now. We have been here for a full 4 weeks today! Yay!!! It is beautiful in our little town of Wilmore. The population is approximately 6,000 people. It feels like home in a lot of ways to us, since we both grew up in small towns. However, Wilmore looks like the small towns you see in the movies with the cute downtown stores, colorful flowers, and tall green trees.

Everything is in walking distance from our apartment. We are living in married student housing on campus, which is surprisingly nice. It is small, but it has lots of storage. It is also in the perfect location. We can walk to the video store, resturants, the bank, post office, grocery store, and anything on campus. It provides us with plenty of exercise, especially since the landscape is the exact opposite of Plainview, TX, plenty of hills!

We were very excited to find a Authentic Mexican food resturant down town called Jose's. It has become our comfort food, while Ashley deals with a little bit of culture shock. (She really misses TexMex and Taco Villa.) Jose's tastes as good or better as our favorite Mexican food resturants in West Texas. Plus it is cheap!! We can both eat lunch with chips and salsa for $9.00!!! So it really beats the food back in Texas. :)

Life is moving fast and the past month has flown by in a matter of seconds. We have not found jobs yet, so that kind of sucks, but we really do feel that Asbury Theological Seminary is where we are supposed to be. So if you think about it please keep us in your prayers because $ is running out and school costs lots of $!