Jon and Almi Johnson

Missionaries with The Master's Mission since 1994

Dear Friends and Family,

 I just thought that I would give you a little visual tour of our work.  During the last several weeks our practical work has included pouring a 19 foot internal diameter water tank, hauling gravel in the community and working on a set of upper cabinets for my wife.

The water tank took four months to level and will need three to 4 weeks to build.  (Check out the shadow in the middle of the tank. :-)    The tree was covered with ants and I am still being eaten alive over an hour latter.)

The gravel is coming from every family in Sekenani.  I saw my first elder today making gravel.  He was in his sixties.  I have from his age group to kids that are 4 and 5.  The younger ones help pick out grass and twigs and the older ones brake the stones into gravel with a round rock.  The rock is measured into a five gallon bucket and they are paid 35 cents for each bucket.

 The cabinets are the next project for my long suffering, patient wife. 

They are out of plywood with a mahogany trim piece.  I found that I can buy an 18 foot by 14 inch wide by 2 1/2 think board of Mahogany for $45.  I figured that this one board will trim out the entire kitchen and still leave me with some left overs.  God is so good in blessing us beauty all around us.

 Thank you all for your prayers and support of our family here.  We are thankful for the continuing piece and the opportunities it gives us to minister.  This last week our workers have asked for an in depth study of Seventh Day Adventism.  We have just completed this study as it came under the seventh day of creation.  Tomorrow we will enter into Adam and Eve and the origin of Sin.  Please keep us in your prayers.

 Love and prayers from the grassy Maasai Mara,

 Jon and Almi

Dear Friends and Family,

 On Thursday the 28 of Feb, the government of Kenya signed an agreement that creates a coalition government. This agreement allows President Kibaki to remain in power as the president of Kenya and adds the post of Prime Minister for his challenger Riella. Prime Minister Riella will have the authority to “supervise the government” and have a say on the choosing of the presidents cabinets. It is still unclear just what this means practically, but both parties are in agreement on the wording and have a clear understanding between themselves as to what this means.

From our perspective, we hope for peace and pray that God will open doors for His righteousness and grace to be known.

 To just give you a chuckle I must point out that after the 2007 Presidential election with a total of over 35 million dollars spent, the three contenders in the elections will now be the top three men in the Kenyan government. When has anything like that happened before?

 As we look at what happened and the violence that was seen here in Kenya, we are again reminded of the deceitfulness of sin. It must seem like such a small thing to most people to pay a bribe or to bend the law “just this once”, but the results are horrific. It is easy to see when we have a problem like the irregularities in the 2007 election. Justice is easily perverted and the frustration of people with each other and their society in general boils over. They cling to their roots (tribes) because they see nothing else to cling to. (This is also a sad commentary on the visible church in Kenya. The church in general has failed to show Christ as God and worthy to be the ruler of their lives.

Thankfully there have been exceptions of churches and Pastors who stood true with their congregations, but when we look at Kenya as a "Christian" nation it is easy to see that in most Christianity was only skin deep.)

 Our life in Sekenani continues on almost as normal now. Travis has been teaching through creation in morning devotions and really enjoying the time. It is so good to be reminded of who God is. He is not only the creator, but also the Father of Lights. He sent his Son to be the light of the World. His Son was the Word of God and He gave us the written word to reveal the living Word. The written Word is a light to our path and a lamp to our feet with the Living Word being the radiance of His Glory. He also shines into our hearts at Salvation to give us the light of the glory of God on the face of His Son. What a beautiful picture it is to think of all the lights we know, the sun, moon, stars, rainbows, and the northern and southern lights and to think that they are just little pictures of our father. He is the truly the father of lights.

 This next week I will take over from Travis and will start talking about the fall of man and original sin. As we saw the picture of God as the father of Lights, now we will meet the highest angel ever created who has fallen to become the Father of Lies. What an awful contrast, light and truth verses lies. Yet again and again we see people giving in to the lie and the allusions (many times they know to be false) of pleasure. I recently came across a statement on lies that really made me think. “We choose to believe or reject a lie based on its attractiveness to us, not on a rational basis of truth.”

 I am telling you of this so you can remember us in your prayers. We will be bringing a message that if those listening truly understand will cause a choice to be made. They must either acknowledge God and the reality of their rebellion or they must reject God.

 Pray that God uses us and opens hearts. Pray that we can be channels to show people the Father of Lights and help them escape the Father of Lies.

 Lastly I want to thank you all again for your prayers and support. We are blessed to know and have you behind us, holding us up in your prayers. Thank you again.

 Love and Prayers,

 Jon and Almi Johnson

February 2008

Dear Friends and Family,

 First I would like to thank all of you for your prayers for us over the last month.  God has been very good to us.  We literally counted our blessings almost every day this week.  While Kenya has be in trouble and turmoil, our drought ended and the rains returned to the Mara.  We have seen the cows give birth until there is an excess of milk.  (Fresh milk here is selling at 40 cents a quart.)  The grass is over 6 inches high and the Mara is lush.  We thank the Lord for hearing our prayers and helping us.  He is truly a God who is rich in Mercy.

 Many people, not only here in the Maasai Mara, but also throughout our district have returned home to plant their fields and to work their farms.  There are gardens sprouting all over the place.  This has brought a rapid close to much of the chaos in our district as the Maasai need the other tribes for their work.  They rely on different tribes to provide skilled labor and to work with them in the fields.  When everyone is busy, it is hard to have the energy or motivation to keep fighting.  (It is interesting to note that the rains usually don't start

until the last of March, not the first of February.   God is good, all the time; all the time, God is good!)

 Here in Sekenani we have had three straight days of rain.  The mornings are cloudy and cold, (not by your standards, maybe 60 degrees).  By noon the haze has built to huge clouds on the horizon and by 6 in the evening we have rains coming.  This makes everyone work hard as many are patching their mud roofs, and the men are washing and applying medicine to their flocks and herds.  Almost every community also has several families that are now trying to farm.  Some are plowing an acer or two, some a large patch for a vegetable garden.

 We also started to buy gravel.  Many families have no income as they can't sell their animals due to the problems with transport and tribal problems.  We are hauling almost a ton of gravel a day as the women, kids and old men are looking for a way to generate the income needed to sustain life.  It has really been a blessing to us as we are in the community daily talking with the mothers and kids and sometimes the elders.  It has been a way to help that helps us as well.  They are all saying thanks so much, without this money I couldn't...

 The other really neat thing is that I haven't seen even one drunk this last week.  Everyone is busy working.  One of our young men from church said it best, "Sekenani has really woken up!"   This morning as I was hauling sand for a friend I was bemoaning that I had only one person to help me load the truck and trailer.  When we finished I looked around and counted 8 Maasai's that were helping for free.  They wanted me to get to there gravel or sand and so were helping so that I could haul faster.  It was truly amazing as in ten years I have never seen so many people working so hard.

This week on Tuesday, Travis and I went into Narok to meet with our Police friend and to get some cement for his fence.  All week we have had good news from different places.  The first was that the rains have caused most of the trouble to stop here in Narok.  Their is still some hard feelings, but at least the outright violence that  we were still seeing until last week has now almost completely died out.  The second piece of news was that there was renewed hope in the piece talks as the government was starting to work together.  Nakuru and Nivasha were also open to travel again, although curfews and trouble in the outer regions remain.  This is much better than the gangs that were fighting in the streets last week.  The last bit of good news that we received was that the police had caught the thieves who had broken into a Police Armory and cleaned it out of guns and Ammo.  They recovered all but five of the guns and 375 rounds.  (This is still a good bit, but after all is said it is a finite number with an end.)

 There are definitely still some prayer needs as well.  We have seen the tribal divisions even in our workers.  It is very clear how the violence has affected the different tribes, splitting friendships and making trust difficult.  The economy is also still very poor and getting worse.  This is survivable but it is really taking toil on schools. 

One of the teachers here in Sekenani was wondering if our school would manage to stay open.  That is quite the thought!  The teachers come from areas outside of the mara and have to bare the burden of the high food and travel prices, as well as delayed / missed salaries.  Please keep us all in your prayers as well.  Things are definitely looking better this week, but it is going to be a long hard road to see Kenya standing firm economically again.  It will be even longer before we see the scare from this violence heal.  Pray that God gives us His wisdom as we talk.  Pray also that in all of conversations with the families here in Sekenani that God would open doors and hearts for his word to enter in.

 Thank you again for your love and Prayers for our family,

 Jon and Almi

January 2008

Dear Friends and Family,

I want to thank you all for your prayers for us as we went to Nairobi.  We left at 3:30 AM on Tuesday morning to go into Nairobi.  As we entered Nairobi we got stuck in a traffic jam and listened to the 7 o'clock news.  They announced that a Nairobi MP had been assassinated that night.  I knew that this wasn't good news so we made plans to drop off the wives at the supermarket and for the husbands to get money so we could get out of Nairobi as soon as possible.  We planned on getting back to them within the hour.  As we sat at the bank we heard shots from the slums across the roads, then the wives called and said that there was a riot in front of the supper market.  We waited for the riot to clear up and rushed back, stopping at the butchery on the way and buying meat for the next three months.  The wives finished shopping and we left Nairobi.  We slept at Diguna and headed for Masai at 4:30 AM the next morning.  In the afternoon there were two more brief riots and some burning of houses in the slums.  The police handled the riots well and allowed life to flow around them almost without interruption.  Amazing what can get to be normal.

The road back was far from deserted.  We were in a constant line of semi's and large lorries that were delivering goods.  It seems that everyone felt that early morning travel in large groups was safest.  We arrived at Narok at 8 o'clock and Sekenani at 11:00 o'clock.  Just after arriving our police friend said that it was a peaceful day in Kenya.  PTL.  20 minutes later he called us back to say that a second MP had been assassinated in Eldoret.  I am glad to be back in Sekenani.

As far as the trip, we did manage to see Larry (Travis Sawyers Dad) off to the States.  His other guests as well as our guests canceled as we wait to see how Kenya will fair.  The paper the day I was in Nairobi had the following headlines.  Railway lines have been pulled up in Nairobi and Kisumu.  There are 18,000 containers waiting for transport.  Sudan's prices are 500% higher across the board with Uganda's also up over 100%.  The talks with Kofi Annan are bring hope, but it is still far from over with travel going from safe to unsafe in a heart beat.  Over 10,000 teachers are unemployed now due to the violence and few are getting paid as the government is having trouble with money. 

We are not sure of our ability to travel to Nairobi and so have bought food and planned on staying here till the end of May if need be.   Our estiment is that food is up 40%.  We used $2,400.00 dollars for food and covered the basics necessities plus a little extra for over 3 months.  We can also see that it was a real blessing when our gas fridge died and we bought a solar fridge and freezer.  It seemed hard last year as we added panels and had lots of bills, but it is really a blessing now as we are close to being free from the need of fuel.  We have a seventeen cubic foot fridge and 12 cubic foot freezer full to the brim.  Almi couldn't get the last handful of zucchini into the fridge or freezer, so you know it was really full.

Many people have been concerned about us.  Thank you for that and for your prayers as well.  We are taking many extra precautions and trying to keep our heads down.  We are in almost daily contact with the Police in Narok as well as getting reports from Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu, and Central Province from friends.  We have plans for different scenarios and most importantly, we are in the Lord's hands.  Our request is that you keep us in your prayer.  Nothing is more important than that.  We need God's wisdom for all that we do.

Yesterday we helped the rangers remove some huge roots that were choking their water system.  As we cleared the root and saw water start flowing through the pipe, one of them signed and said, "Boy we sure have some good neighbors. Thanks!"  Following Christ is never boring. :)

Love and Prayers to all,

Jon and Almi Johnson

Merry Christmas       December 2007

When Jon first asked me to write the sequel to his last newsletter I thought, this is going to be so very boring. It seems to me that I pretty much do the same things over again every day.   Of course those are the good days! :-)

As I write this, many of you might scan the sky for the first snow flakes. It is supposed to be rainy season here, but instead the hot sun is burning and the wind is blowing all the clouds away that could possibly think about becoming rain clouds. Last year about this time we saw flooding with the bridges in danger of being washed away.  This year a drought seems to be materializing and we watch bush fires on the horizon several nights a week.

Every Tuesday afternoon we have a ladies group that meets for bible study and a time of prayer. I have been teaching it since we came back from home assignment. Recently we have been taking turns meeting in each others homes. Yesterday one very faithful and very old Maasai lady invited us to her hut. She has a hard time walking, so the other missionary ladies and I take turns carrying her to church and bible study on the 4-wheeler. She lives in one of the biggest "bomas", which is a circle of huts tightly surrounded by thick wall of tree branches to form a corral, where the cows are kept at night. Therefore there is a thick carpet of dried and not so dried cow manure inside the boma. The huts are made of branches, cow manure and mud.  They are arranged in a big circle and we pulled up right in front of her hut. There always seem to be many children about, trying to cling to the 4-wheeler like ants to honey. There are many busy little fingers that are looking for anything on the 4-wheeler that moves...not good.

The sun was hot, the children loud, so our host, Mama Krisia, invited us inside her hut. Because it is almost totally dark in there, she positioned Tari and me on 2 little stools by the doorway, so we could see what we were reading. The rest of the ladies disappeared inside. I was just beginning to wonder how they could possibly hear anything, when one of them suggested we should sit outside in the shade of the hut instead. So out we went. Children kept walking by politely bowing their heads to be greeted by each one of us. This is the custom among the Maasai children.  They show respect and greet adults by bowing their head in front of them and the adults rest their hand on the child's head in greeting. They all wanted to see what the white women were doing here, so there were many to greet. A lot of the Maasai women that live there, also came over and sat down with us.

 We had been studying the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6 and had arrived at verse 12: "Forgive us our debts..". So we talked about sin, what it is, what it does, why we need forgiveness and salvation. As hard as it was to concentrate with the interruptions, sitting on the already mentioned kind of carpet, the flies, the heat, I could not help but think how wonderful the Lord is, to have arranged this particular lesson for these particular people, who don't usually come to church. Another blessing was that one of the ladies from church who speaks Swahili well was there to translate for me from Swahili to Maasai (Most of the women have not gone to school so their Swahili is very limited).

After we had prayed together Mama Krisia invited us in her hut again to take some refreshments she had prepared. Usually they make hot tea with cow’s milk, sometimes they even serve a kind of pancake, all of which they have cooked on the fire. This is a very big deal for them. It also presents another problem. I have been warned by my Dr. to stay away from the local cow’s milk because of the possible reinfection of brucellosis. Yet the last thing I want to do is offend these ladies that are offering generously of what they have. So I dared to suggest to give them store bought (heat treated) milk that we use at home, for making the tea. I was very relieved to see they were very happy with my offer.  It turns out that this also helps them. It seems that because of the drought their cows aren’t giving enough milk for the family, let alone guests.

Of course the biggest part of my days is filled with home schooling our three kids. They are in grades 8, 5 and 1 respectively. Our official day starts at 7:45 with morning devotions at the church.  This is an opportunity for those who don't read to hear a daily reading of the bible and an explanation of what we are reading.  The men teach it and I play the guitar for the singing.  We usually finish about 8:15.  School starts at 8:30 and ends... when finished. We are extremely thankful that we have that freedom and don't have to send them away to boarding school.

Sequences are still a big part of our life. The other day I got sucked into the vortex of sequences. As in every household, the washing machine is an important item that is used almost every day. My daily routine includes checking the weather. Is it sunny or cloudy or even overcast? Do I wash and If I do, will it dry? Will the solar power be enough? Are the water tanks full, or do we need to pump water from the well? Is it sunny enough to run both on solar, or do I need to charge the batteries with the help of the generator? Does the generator need fuel? Is the handy little jerry can full, or does that need to be filled in order for the generator to be filled? And where is my handy little funnel so I don't spill the precious stuff all over me? I have 10 min. before school starts to get all that rolling.

So I fill the washer, fill the generator and oops, there is a man at the gate with 2 loud bleating goats. I recognize the goats as the ones our neighbor recently purchased when his dog tried to eat them. They had run away to their previous owner. So the man explains and walks off to find the new owner of the goats. My dogs are salivating at the fence. I stand there alone with the 2 goats. It occurs to me that I should probably tie them up, so they won't run off again. I hunt for a rope, we only have dog chains. I finally find one our dogs like to play with which is as thick as if it might be used to tie up ships, but not goats. Since there is nothing else available, I start out after the goats, which have decided they better leave this place which obviously belongs to the 3 drooling monsters with the greedy eyes behind the fence. I start to run, the goats start to run. I hope nobody is watching. Finally another man that is working on the station starts to help me catch them. He advises me to grab a leg, any leg. Unfortunately for me, I grab 2 hind legs, one goat attached to each. Fortunately for me the man starts to tie the monster rope around the neck of one. Unfortunately for me, the goats don't like this and start to kick violently. I am determent not to let go. The goat is just as determent that she will make me let go.  Soon she is winning and kicking me into our thorn bushes hedge.  It feels like someone is sawing on my arm with barbed wire.  Ouch. We finally succeed and I thank my helper and drag the things, I definitely don't want to talk about them or even see them but..., back to our house we go. So where was I? Oh yes, I am way late for school, but first some peroxide and Neosporin is in order!
 
And then there are the shopping trips to town which is about a 6 hour drive at the moment. So for you Wisconsinites that would be getting your groceries in Chicago and if you live around Portsmouth, Maine you'd find your next Shaw’s close to New York City. The mileage of course is much less; the difference is in the road conditions which continually change. Before leaving I write an extensive shopping list which includes an inventory of things that I have. You need this when you plan for 3 months of food.  We can easily fill a big pantry and over buy or under buy if we aren’t careful.  Because we are still without a pantry, we put up some large shipping crates that are converted into shelves in the house and in the guest room down stairs.

We are usually in town from Monday through Friday, in order to get all the supplies (food, paper work, building supplies for the station as well as for community projects that Jon is involved in, Dr. visits, ect.), weaving our way through the ever increasing traffic.

We were also able to ship a chest freezer from the States that runs on solar power which has enabled me to buy a lot more vegetables and meat. We are starting to grind our own flour for making bread, juicing carrots, and are always trying to look for ways to improve our diet. Not much is available locally. This summer we had a large group of 22 that we, the three missionary wives, fed. The shopping for them was by far the hardest part of their week long visit.

When groups like this come our normal life stops. In this case, we (as in the 3 families on this station) supplied them for 7 days with beds, sheets, 3 meals a day and a turn in the shower. They provided not only medical help for the community, but lots of interesting conversations, laughter, fellowship, kitchen helpers for every meal, first aid for a dog after a fight, ( including a bunch of guys to hold him down), and e-mail addresses to stay in touch.  We are always exhausted in our bodies when a group like this leaves, but refreshed in our spirits from the fresh views and encouragement of many new and loving friends.

As I think of the differences in our lives, between here and America, I can tell you honestly that I don't miss going to the mall. But what I do miss is to getting out. I miss shopping or just looking around by myself (I don't drive in Nairobi). I can't just go out to meet a friend for a cup of coffee or some ice cream.  I rarely get to attend a bible study where I am the student and not responsible for a thing and everyone speaks the same language!  I definitely miss maple trees in the fall, snow on Christmas Eve (only), singing hymns in English at church, taking a walk after dark, seedless grapes and sweet corn, watching 4th of July fireworks with my kids, the vast parking lots at Wal-Mart, driving on the right side of the road, and being totally invisible and anonymous in a crowd.

This is not to say you should feel sorry for me, not at all. Let me tell you what I would miss, if I didn't live here: Eating almost every meal with everyone in our family present, going on motorcycle rides and picnics watching wild animals, some of which have very long noses and weighing over a ton. The fact that my kids are not being exposed to the latest fashion designs and TV shows is wonderful.  I also love watching our 3 big dogs race around our yard chasing baboons away, listening to the hyenas laugh at night and an occasional lion grunt. I love being able to be at home with my kids as much as is needed and having our whole family involved on a job. It's wonderful not having to worry about winter coats and clothes for different seasons, eating avocados from one of our own trees, as well as meeting many other missionaries, enjoying the breath taking sunsets (it only takes about 5 minutes of your time!) and I could go on.

During the Christmas season especially we miss friends and families at home. But it presents itself also as an opportunity to count our blessings. For example our life is continually improving. We have bought our first couch (never had room for one before or for that matter any other soft cushioned chairs), and a new refrigerator and freezer.   We have moved into our stone house this year and are enjoying the delicious quietness of solar power.  We have a 3rd mission family on the station that everyone is enjoying as well.  This season we just want each of you to know that we love you and we miss you.  Thank you for your partnership and help in allowing us to be here.  Thank you for your faithfulness in serving the Lord.
May God grant you a blessed time with your family and friends this Christmas.
Love and prayers,
Almi

December 2005

Dear friends and family,

 The following letter was written in the beginning of October.  We learned after arriving at Wisconsin that it had gotten lost in cyber space.  We know it is old news to some of you but the pictures are nice and it will help us test our E-mail address book before the Christmas letter.  We are now back in WI and doing well.  Josh is praying for more snow.  J  Almi and I really appreciated your help, prayer, and friendship in our travels.

 We are updating our e-mail lists and trying to get everybody in the right place.  If you do not desire an email from us, please feel free to let us know.  (We will not be offended.  J)  If it works better for you to receive a hard copy by snail mail you may ask for that as well.  I will say a word caution about that, we do not write and send as many letters due to the price of mailing and the problem of bringing them to the post office.  We try for about every six weeks with mail and every three weeks with e-mail.  It is less in America as the confusion of travel and the lack of a home slows us down in getting out updates.  We currently have two E-mail addresses and we copy both.  The one here in WI is jj@nnex.net.  This will only be in use until March 1^st.  Our permanent address is jj@africaonline.co.ke .   

 I am glad to be sitting down and writing you again.  In the last month our odometer shows that we have driven more than 5,300 miles.  Try that with a family of five and you will understand why it feels so wonderful to have stopped driving.  Through it all though, we do want to thank the Lord for a wonderful trip, with great fellowship, and no mechanical problems.

 The trip started with a visit to friends in Minnesota that we had met in Kenya as they were visiting a missionary there.  It is always hard coming into a new town and place without knowing more than one family.  Here it felt very homey and we felt as if we belonged by the end of the weekend.  Josh and the girls enjoyed several friends that were there ages and the new experience of living on a farm.  Josh was most impressed by the four wheeler “with three tires” that they used to run around the farm with.  J

 After the weekend we drove out to Denver Colorado to be a part of the Mission Life Conference that TMM was putting on there.  This conference is produced through The Master's Mission and is a way of challenging the local churches in America to stand firm in the call to missions, both here and in the foreign field.  The kids were part of classes that took imaginary trips around the world and met missionaries on there own home ground.  We were involved in the displays and panel discussions, while Jim Teasdale led the teaching time in conjunction with the pastors of the church.  Highlights included having one TMM child (2 years old) who dislocated his shoulder.  Thankfully it 'popped' back in before the hospital had to do anything.  You probably understand that you can take the missionary out of the bush but you can't take the bush out of the missionary.  (In reality it was a two year old boy who was wrestling with his four year old sister.  It could have happened to anybody but of course it had to be to a MK.)

 After Denver we traveled through some of the most beautiful country in America.  It started on I-80 west out of Denver.  About four hours out you come to Glenwood Canyon.  This is a 12.5 mile long canyon of several hundred feet in depth that the road passes through.  It was hard to keep driving as we drove through the canyon and watched the beautiful sparkling Colorado River in between the rock cliffs, the dark green spruce trees and the yellow aspens.  We finally stopped at one of the four or five rest stops and just walked.  God's creation is truly awesome. (Attachment 1)

 We drove that afternoon out of the Rocky Mountains and into the bottom corner of Utah.  As the sun was setting we drove forty miles around the Arches National Park.  This road continues to follow the Colorado River through huge sandstone cliffs.  Throughout the trip there were many cars parked on the side with tents.  Many Photographers were setting up and shooting as the sun set.  Our photos turned out okay, but due to the speed of the vehicle and the darkening canyon they are not crystal clear.

 After spending the night in Moab, Utah we continued on and looked for a spot to enjoy a picnic breakfast.  It was on the back roads again that we found the actions.  Prior to going down to the Grand Canyon, the Colorado River goes through Glenn Canyon.  This is approximately 2,500 feet deep.  As we picnicked on the North side we laughed that we were one of two cars at the canyon wall.  We sat on a point that reached out into the canyon about 100 yards and had a view of the canyon on three sides (310 degrees of view).  Almi said that she had sweaty palms the whole time.  The kids were amazed but ran and jumped when they got out of her grip. J  I really enjoyed the birds.  The hawks and birds of Prey were diving in the air currents that the cliff produced.  The wind was so strong at the edges that they were screaming like bombs as they dived.  As they neared the rock bluff they flattened and then the wind on the far side would throw them up into the heavens again.  Truly, this was an awesome sight.

 Of course seeing we were close we decided to take a look into the Grand Canyon.  As Almi phased it, “It was like our minds were a digital Camera and the memory chip was full.  One beautiful sight followed the next.  The Grand Canyon is many miles long (60 or 70?), over 10 miles across and more than 7400 feet deep at its deepest.  The explorers who first went down the river and saw the depths of the Canyon said they felt as pygmies among the cliffs.  Truly I don't know how it can be explained as the views are so large and deep that they defy capture even with the naked eye.  Everywhere this awesome creation of God’s calls out to us, to remind us of God's majesty and our own tiny mannishness. (attachment 3-4) 

We are now living in Maine for the next two months and are enjoying the fellowship of our home church here.  We thank you all for your continued prayers and your support of us.  We have seen the Lord doing so many things that we can only Praise His name.  Thank you for your part in our ministry, both here and abroad. 

Love and Prayers, 

Jon, Almi, Tanya, Christy, and Josh 

Field Address:

P.O. Box 21028

Nairobi, Kenya

Cell: 011-254-735-908907

tmmjohnson@gmail.com

Furlough Address:

PO Box 531

Eagle River, WI  54521

Phone:  (715) 479-4986

Cell:  (828) 725-9174

Email:  jj@nnex.net

Jon and Almi Johnson:  Sekanani:  Toehold Among the Maasai (Spring 2000)