New things

The first couple of days we have spent traveling, settling in, and experiencing new things.

Friday was a long day of travel. A delayed flight and some baggage stuck at customs put us a couple hours behind our schedule. We stayed the night as we headed up to La Esmeralda so we could finish the trip in the daylight.

A good meal, showers and a bed did us well!

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Saturday we finished our travel into La Esmeralda and were greeted by our partners. We settled in and started to get to know the team. We ended our night at youth group and sharing stories after dinner.

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Sunday morning we got started early so we could get to church. The team was immersed in the culture with a full service in Spanish. Some of the students joined Sunday school with the kids.

We spent the afternoon preparing the hygiene packs for the community outreach and playing soccer, cards, volleyball, etc… with our new friends!

We ended our day at church, had dinner and shared some more of our stories.

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We look forward to what the rest of the week holds!

Make sure you are watching Facebook and Instagram for more of out pictures and updates.

Commissioned and packed

Fox River Students leave in just a few short days!

Commissioning ✅

The church commissioned us with a moments of prayer in our weekend services. A moment for the students to see the church come around them and send them out to be the light of Christ.

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We spent time this week getting all of our supplies packed up and ready to go.

All 22 suitcases are full and waiting to make the journey. ✅

Will you join us in praying that our luggage arrives and makes it through customs smoothly?

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One last meeting before we head out ✅

It’s time!

It’s time.

It is time for Fox River Missions to send our first teams back out since the world turned upside down.

It’s time to go and reconnect with our partners and share in the work that God is doing!

There has been heartbreak, loss, destruction, change, and yet in the midst of all of that we have seen God show up and remind us of His Goodness and Faithfulness! We have seen the Kingdom grow, we have seen healing physically, mentally, and spiritually, we have seen restoration… and that is just skimming the surface.

So much has changed and evolved over the last few years and we can’t wait to get back into it.

Our prayer as we step into these trips, with these teams, is that we are able to live out the Fox River mission… A Heart for People and A Message of Jesus! That we go in likeness of Jesus, so that more will come to know Him!

Follow along as we get to share these wonderful life changing experiences with so many new team members. (We will be posting here and on the Fox River Missions Facebook and Instagram.)

June 23-July 2 ~ Fox River Students take on Nicaragua

July 15-July 27 ~ Fox River Kenya team

Join us this year!

What is My Gift for Jesus?

Our December challenge to give a gift to Jesus during this Christmas season by helping children who live in extreme poverty in Kenya and Nicaragua.

How Can I Get Involved?

Choose your level of engagement:

• GIVE: Start by making a life changing donation. Monthly sponsorship is just $25. You can give weekly, monthly or annually. Just pledge to give

• PRAY: Stop by the missions booth after a weekend service and pick up a prayer card for Nicaragua or a Kenyan child. Hang them in a spot to remind you to pray for these ministries. Not able to make it to one of our campuses in December? No problem. Email us at missions@foxriverchristian.org and we’ll get them to you.

• CONNECT: Write letters to the Kenyan child on your prayer card or write an encouraging note to one of our partners in Nicaragua. Visit our Connect page to get started.

• GO: Join us on one of the summer mission trips to Kenya or Nicaragua to see first hand what God is doing through your life changing donations. See our Trips page for more information on each trip or to sign up.

How Do I Give?

• Give online through Fox River’s website. Be sure to use the fund marked for My Gift for Jesus.

• Place cash or check in the offering during a weekend service. Be sure it is marked for My Gift for Jesus.

• Mail a check to Fox River (S46 W24130 Lawnsdale Road, Waukesha, WI  53189) or drop off at the church office. Be sure it is marked for My Gift for Jesus.

What Does Fox River Do in Kenya and Nicaragua?

Kenya: we partner with local churches to offer a great Christian education that will give these young people the opportunity to know God and break the cycle of poverty in their family and community.

• Fully sponsor 2 schools with about 775 students from preschool through middle school and 80 staff members. This includes all school supplies, 2 meals on school days, and basic health care.

• About 100 students sponsored in our partner high school.

• Clean water for the community surrounding the school.

• Farm project to supplement the feeding program.

• Adult literacy classes.

• A rescue center that provides a loving home for children who have been abandoned.

Nicaragua: we partner with the local church in La Esmeralda to provide healthcare in a remote location where no healthcare in available.

• A clinic staffed with a doctor that sees hundreds of patients each month.

• The clinic specializes in prenatal care and offers a safe and clean environment for delivery and after care

• Beyond the physical care, the pastor and staff share the gospel and minister to the needs of the soul.

• The Avance Sports ministry gives an outlet for hundreds of children and teens to engage in wholesome activities and hear about Jesus. Currently they offer soccer, volleyball, and baseball.

To all those who give and pray we would like to say THANK YOU, ASANTE, GRACIAS! We would not be able to make this impact on the world without you. Our partners in both Kenya and Nicaragua want you to know they are so grateful for your love and generosity towards them.

High School Graduation!!

Friday and Saturday were spent celebrating with our students who have just graduated from Valerye McMillan High School!

This group is a mix of students who came from both New Life Academy in Bomani and Crossroads Academy in Vipingo. These kids started when they in the pre-K classes. They have grown up before our eyes!

We are so proud of them and pray for their futures as the embark on the next phase of their lives!

Friday was graduation day and Saturday we took them to pick out a new outfit to get them set for interviews.

Check out this video…

Celebrating with Vipingo

Wednesday and Thursday have been spent celebrating with Crossroads Academy, Vipingo!

Wednesday we spent the day out and about with the Vipingo graduates. They got to have their fun day. Another great Mombasa City tour.

Site seeing along the way, a walking tour at Fort Jesus and Old Town Mombasa, taking in the view at the port, pizza lunch on the bus, and a shopping spree at the store. A day full of fun and new experiences!

Thursday was Graduation Day! We got to be a part of a wonderful ceremony celebrating their achievements.

And as we said the other day we want to acknowledge that this was a crazy year in education and these kids worked hard to do well and complete grade 8. Thank you to the teachers, staff, and sponsors for the fantastic support you have given these kids!!

Share in the joy of these kids in the video below…

Celebrating with Bomani!

Monday and Tuesday we have spent celebrating with New Life Academy, Bomani!

Monday was graduation day! We got to be a part of a wonderful ceremony celebrating their achievements.

After a crazy year in education these kids worked hard to do well and complete grade 8. Thank you to the teachers, staff, and sponsors for the fantastic support you have given these kids!!

Tuesday, the graduates were treated to a day of fun. A Mombasa City tour arranged by our very own O’Neal Nyanje! Getting on a bus to leave their village is an experience the students were so excited about.

Site seeing along the way, a walking tour at Fort Jesus and Old Town Mombasa, taking in the view at the port, pizza lunch on the bus, and a shopping spree at the store. A day full of fun and new experiences!

Yep, it’s time to go!

A few of Fox River Missions leadership are headed to Kenya!

We get to go and celebrate, hug, grieve, love, and just be with our students, partners, and missionaries in Kenya after year that put so much separation between us.

We have longed for this day. For it to be okay for us to travel again, for graduations to be scheduled, for the moments to embrace and connect with our people!

Jason, Denise and I, Abbey, will be headed out this morning (6/18). We will land in Mombasa on Saturday. Follow along this week through the blog and social media!

ALL things work for Good……

I have learned in my life that things are not constant nor do they always pan out in the way we have dreamt or hoped they would. 

I have been a believer in Christ for the past 20 years and I can attest that God has been faithful to me. I can say this because He has brought me blessings and he has never left me even when I have struggled. 

2020 was a year like any other where many of us had dreams and plans put into place and that sure changed when we found ourselves in a world wide pandemic. For us as a family we were hit with our own personal pandemic if I can say as much. In June of 2020 I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a type of cancer that affects the blood and the bones.  

First Chemo day in mombasa kenya

The news devastated us when it first came even though we knew of the Lords faithfulness. This was scary – this was unexpected. As a family and a community, we started to map out the way forward and thankfully in the midst of the pandemic I was able to get the 6 months of chemo that I needed.

Transplant prep before heavy chemo in India.

After that a Bone Marrow transplant was needed and because many people who financially gave I was able to get that with my wife Jenna by my side in December of 2020 in Hyderabad, India. 


Again, God’s faithfulness. We saw the money come in that we certainly didn’t have for a transplant. And we saw travel as an option when the world had shut down. We saw protection as I went through Chemo and had to be so careful of who was around me and might pass along a bug. 

Post transplant moments of low white blood cells and feeling weak. (Christmas and birthday week)

Today we brag on God by saying I am in full remission and cancer free. I have pain in my body that still needs to heal from the destruction the cancer had on my bones. But day by day that is getting better.

Family moment with our precious daughter Etana.

In the midst of this we also lost one of the greatest joys of our life, our daughter Etana in an accident in October. We were actually at the doctors office for my final round of Chemo treatment when it happened. In truth, this is something we are still trying to recover from. We still mourn her loss and we have no other choice than to trust a faithful God to build our hearts back together bit by bit. A month prior to the Lord calling her home her adoption had been finalized and I think the Lord knew how important that was to us. Lawfully, legally and with two very willing hearts we are a family forever. Now we wait for a day when we can be just that – together.  

This last year held a lot of pain for us as a family. We pray God would be praised and gain glory through our suffering. We also hope people would know the God we experienced this last year. A God of hope and of love, one of understanding and willingness to sit in great tragedy. For our God is not in the sole business of making us happy or just meeting our wants and needs but is in the business of perfecting us into the image of Christ each and everyday of our lives. After all is said and done for sure all things work together for good for them that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28.

Present day in remission and getting better by the day.

We thank you Fox River standing with us and praying for us– we appreciate you. 

National Exams

Preparing for their Math Exam.

Just like for many many students in the states, our Kenyan brothers and sisters have had a school year that has looked very different. And like so many of us, they have taken different and done their very best with it! Their school term is wrapping up and Grade 4 and 8 will be sitting for their national exams on March 22nd.

The new school year begins in January, but before then we have almost 100 students finishing primary school and high school that will be taking national exams that will determine their next steps.

55 students finishing Grade 8 are sitting for their national exams next week. The results of these exams will determine if and where they will attend high school. They have prepared well despite their circumstances.

There are 32 of our students finishing high school. These students wi also be taking their exams. Students who do well will be invited to attend a university that is highly subsidized.

The students were able to have a beach day together to grow and relax a bit, what a joy for them!

There is a lot of stress for these students, especially for grade 8. Will you please pray with us for them, their families and their teachers?

We will keep you posted as we have results- thank you for praying with us!