Brett and Bronwyn

Friday morning I woke up extremely frustrated. It was a big camper night in Nairobi and what would have been my first opportunity to see a BlueSky event and start making real connections with would be campers and their families. I was also emailing with staff in Kenya and they really wanted to start the process of interviews for local Kenya staff so we could get them locked up for the summer. It was a sentiment I totally agreed with but those of you who know me know that the hiring process is one of my favorite parts of camp and it was extremely frustrating to know I wasn’t going to be a part of it.  I actually wrote an entire blog post about how I was feeling. Lets take a glance at it.

From Friday:

“I’m frustrated because there are decisions to be made and honestly things I have to learn both about the camp and ministries I am in charge of but also things I need to learn about the culture of the people I will be ministering too. And I promise I’m not having a pity party I’m just ready to get busy. February is when I’ve always started working on camp. And here I am after Valentine’s Day and I can’t even see my camp, I can’t even walk around it and and dream and plan because it’s 8,000 miles away.”

I wrote about 500 words that all pretty much read like that. When I read back through it I decided not to publish it. Not because I was trying to censor myself or even because I didn’t want people to know how I felt. I just knew that my attitude would probably change pretty quickly. It’s certainly not because I don’t want to be in Kenya, it’s pretty much all I think about, but because I truly believe God is working in all of this, including this little unexpected delay. Since the fire we have continued to have opportunity after opportunity to share our story. We have spoken to a group at Germantown Baptist and Desoto Hills Baptist. We have continued to connect with new donors and seen our support account hit about 95% of ideal. We have been blessed with story after story of people praying for us that we have never met but heard our story. I told a group today that this is not how I would have chosen for God to do it but because of the fire we have been blessed beyond measure.

However the best thing is we have gotten to spend more time with friends and family. I was able to have dinner with Russ Polsgrove a pastor in Tupelo and all around great guy and was honored to be joined by his daughter Lucy who as I have said before is my favorite seven year old I am not related to. We have also been able to spend lots of time with our niece and nephew.

So I am of course still a little frustrated and so ready to get to Kenya, but I also don’t want to get ahead of God. I want to stay on His perfect path every minute until we land in Kenya and then for the rest of our lives. So I am soaking up every minute we have here because clearly God wants us here a little longer. We will hopefully have a new date set in the next few days and then the countdown can begin again.

Click here to support Brett and Bronwyn!

I’ve gotten this question quite a few times. We were on the news, our blog was read over 3000 times, and we have had a tremendous amount of reach over the past week and honestly the answer is pretty simple. We did start to set one up, we had hoped to raise money to not only replace everything we lost but cover some medical deductibles (we had just switched to an international insurance which is great overseas but has a really high deductible in the United States). However I had no peace about it.  I even talked it over with Steve May my mentor, friend, bonus father and when I told him that I had no peace he said (or possibly texted, some of this is a blur) that “there is your answer”. Your not having peace means God isn’t in it. So, I think God is saying “Trust Me”.

The reality is we aren’t even at 100%  of our support goal, we are still hovering around 88%. I’m also already paying rent on a house in Kenya, so I’m not homeless my home is just eight thousand miles away. I’m eating up some of our money in ways we really didn’t expect and I’ve been extremely careful not to spend any money that had been given to us to support us in Kenya on anything that isn’t directly helping do that. Even in all of that God is saying “Trust Me”.

So I am trusting the Lord, Bronwyn and I have decided it is better to trust God and lean on Him then to use Go Fund Me. So there is the answer. We still don’t have a timeline, waiting on insurance to do their part and then we will go from there. Also I go back to the doctor today but I was unbelievably encouaged by the fact that even though my fingers burned pretty badly on my left hand I can still play guitar. I thought it would be months before I could do that. I may even post myself playing Isaiah 43, actually I doubt I do that…

Currently our biggest prayer needs:

Working through insurance stuff quickly and smoothly. (Both Medical and House)

Figure out new departure date.

Having to type with one hand so it’s annoyingly slow. My back and fingers are covered in strips of silver and no matter how much I drink I still feel thirsty. Also whenever I catch  little glimpse of my reflection in the monitor I do a double take at the shaved headed guy staring back at me.  But when I think about what just another minute in the house would have been like all I want to do is drop to my knees and thank God he protected us. I slept 13 or 14 hours last night and anyone that knows me knows that’s usually what I get in about 3 days. I’m feeling great though, joyful and content in the knowledge that I am still in the center of God’s perfect will. So here is the plan for the coming week.

Recover from my injuries. I’m fine, I honestly can’t stress enough that I am fine. I look even worse than I feel. I’ve gotten Deadpool and Anakin Skywalker jokes a few times, but personally I like Sandor Clegane. Last night my niece kept her distance from me but we will get spend a good bit of time with her and my nephew before we leave so I am sure she will get used to the new look Uncle Brett in no time. If you would pray that I would have quick healing and deep rest it would be incredibly appreciated.

Replace the items destroyed in the fire. Like I said before almost everything was out of the house because we were about to close. The only things really left were our packed bags we were taking to the mission field in Nairobi. Things like pictures, my guitars, my journals, my Dad’s police badge were already out and at Bronwyn’s parents house. The only sentimental item left was Bronwyn’s bible, we had had our prayer time together on the couch in the den where the fire was concentrated. I had given Bronwyn that bible when I proposed, I had it engraved with “Bronwyn Stamps” and when she read it I pulled the ring out and asked her to marry me. My bible was in the house too, but I don’t write in it so that is easy to replace. Honestly I don’t think there was anything else that can’t be ordered from Amazon, just clothes, books, camping gear, and Nerf Guns. I did get really excited when I realized I had 3 pair of underwear and not just one. I also have a pair of Star Wars pajama bottoms and my Hawkeye Costume. The question is which one to I want to wear to church Sunday.

We also just want to rely on God to show us His perfect will step by step through this. We need to quickly decide on a new date to head to Kenya, decide on purchasing priories, ultimately allow God to be God.  Bronwyn and I have prayed from the beginning that we wanted to be used in a way that people would have to see that nothing that has happened has been about us but all about who we serve. God has used this story to allow us to share our story with people who otherwise never would have heard it.

Bronwyn and I are heading to the mission field in Nairobi Kenya to tell the good news of Jesus Christ to youth and teens through the missions organization BlueSky Global. A house fire, illness, even losing my hair isn’t changing that. I know many of you want to help us get ready to go and that is wonderful and greatly appreciated. If you want to give directly to us we are happy to take it however it is just as helpful to give to our support account listed below. Keep praying for us as we prepare to hit the mission field. We are more excited than ever. God is preparing great things for us and your support allows you to be a part of it.

Click here to support Brett and Bronwyn!

I don’t even know where to begin with this story. Plus I’ve been awake longer than I can remember  and on pain meds so bear with me. Just before Christmas of 2014, I bought Bronwyn a couple’s massage as one of her presents, a present that had gone unused and since we were about to move to Kenya and since we were sick on each other’s Birthdays in January and it was almost Valentine’s Day, we set up our massage and then planned to have a very relaxing, romantic evening together for our last night in our house. After our massages we went home, I built a fire in our fireplace and got ready to shut our brains off and enjoy being together one last time in the house we had lived in since 2004. We had pretty much cleaned everything out of the house in preparation for closing on it on Thursday. All that was left was the TV, our bed, an air mattress, and all of our boxes for Kenya already packed, weighed and ready to go. I made a few BlueSky phone calls, noted a few new members of our support team and got ready to enjoy our evening. Our air mattress had a slow leak so we decided to bring the King mattress into the den since we were moving it anyway. After some time we both fell asleep, relaxed after a great day together.

Around 12:30 Bronwyn woke up, our mattress we were laying on was on fire. I don’t know if it was the heat or a spark or what. Bronwyn jumped up and threw the sheets out the back door and I threw the water next to me on the fire. It was honestly just a small thing at that point. Brownyn went out the front to call 911 and I went to get the fire extinguisher from under the kitchen sink. Because we had moved some things around it wasn’t right where it always is. I looked for just a minute but by the time I decided I couldn’t find it and stood up the entire den and kitchen were black. I couldn’t see anything, and I inhaled a bunch of thick smoke. I quickly realized I was completely disoriented in my own kitchen. Everything was black except the fireball growing in the den and all I could feel was wall and no door. I hollered to Bronwyn I couldn’t find the door and about that time I started smelling my hair burning. Also my back was getting really hot. I never panicked but I new I was in trouble. For just a minute it occurred to me I might not make it out and all I could think about was that it was gonna hurt. By this time my face is feeling the flames I’m still hopelessly searching for a door. Then Bronwyn heard me, yelled back, and moments later grabbed me. She had come back in and saved my life. The true hero of this story.

I get outside and talk to the EMT’s they take my vitals and everything seems fine. However I think I was just in shock. The ambulance leaves and we go into our awesome next door neighbors house and for the first time I see my hand is a mess. Skin falling off and covered in blisters. Bronwyn went into our house with a fireman after the house was safe and found our passports, literally one of the only things to survive and probably the most important thing. When she comes back into our neighbors house it’s pretty clear I’m in pretty bad shape. I don’t know what the conversation was that led to this  but Gregg, our neighbor, took us to St Francis Hospital. They take me back and for the first time I see my face, it looked like I had been laying in the Sun in Daytona all day without any sunblock. They give me some pain meds and decide I need to go to the burn unit at The Med. The rest is a bit of a blur, they treat my burns and in the process keep finding more. At some point they showed me how much of my hair had melted and that they need to shave around some burns on my head so I tell the nurse to just take it all.

I have to say the care here has been amazing. And the calls, texts, messages and visitors I have had has been unreal. I’m probably being prayed for by more people than have ever prayed for me my entire life. The reality is God is in this. I may have been shocked that this happened but He wasn’t. God has a plan and I’m excited to be a part of it. Our plan was to leave Saturday for Kenya but now we have some things we need to do here before that happens like dealing with insurance stuff, replacing all my clothes and a few other things, and healing a bit. We honestly are assessing all that now.  I just want to say that I am not the tiniest bit discouraged by this and if anything I’m more excited than ever. If you have followed our story you know Isaiah 43 has been a big part of it. Well right there in the second verse is:

“when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.”

So maybe I did get a few burns but I could have been consumed, I wasn’t and it won’t be long till we are in Africa serving the Lord on the Mission Field.

Click here to support Brett and Bronwyn!

To be honest I’m still processing this a little. In 5 days we leave the only country we have  ever lived in to move to Africa a place I have only visited once. We are selling our house, cars, giving away most of our possessions and only taking about 6 pieces of luggage. We have no idea how long we are going for and no idea if we will ever live in Memphis again, the city that has always been my home and been Bronwyn’s since we got married in 1999.At times I get a little nervous when I think about it through a worldly lens, when I think about all the terrible things that could happen or all the what if’s that come to mind. However, I know that I have been called by the Creator of the Universe to do this. I know that my wife has been called by the King of Kings to do this and suddenly all those fears and doubts vanish. When I look at it through a lens that God almighty on His throne has given me, it feels amazing, it feels right, it feels like the greatest assignment we have ever had. Also feelings are kind of irrelevant anyway, it’s all about facts and the fact is I am a child of God, Bronwyn is a child of God and His plan for us is perfect, we aren’t perfect, but the Christ in us sure is. So in five days off we go on an adventure, a faith journey, a new life in Africa.

Yesterday was our last Sunday at Fellowship Memphis, a church we had only first visited about a year ago. If you had told me back then that a year from now you will be on that stage and Mo and Jason are going to be leading the congregation praying over you as you prepare to leave for Africa I would have thought you were crazy. God often does the crazy stuff, the unexpected, the fantastic if you let Him. So in five days we are getting on an airplane and flying to Nairobi to start a new chapter in our lives and the human side of me thinks I’m crazy to leave the comfort and security that we have here, but that side is sinful, prideful and prone to always do the wrong things. I choose to put my trust on Him who has called me.

Click here to support Brett and Bronwyn!

Yesterday was a productive day;  we connected with a few donors, got our eyes checked out and got our international drivers licenses. Getting new glasses and getting our license to drive in Kenya reminded me of the first time I went to get my license and then had to get glasses. It was my 16th birthday and dad, who was a police officer, took me in his full uniform to take my drivers license test, I was not allowed to take it because the first thing they did was make me take the eye chart test. You know, the one with the big E at the top. The big E was the only line I could read, as much as I squinted that second line was nothing but a blur. The lady was very patient, possibly because dad was in uniform, and she asked me several times to read the second line.

“Ummm, P” I guessed

“No”

“Ummmm D” I guessed again

“No”

“Ummmmm B” I said squinting with all my might

“Dear, it’s a number”

So I failed that completely and off we went to the eye doctor, something I most likely should have done 10 years before that.  Getting glasses was unbelievable! I honestly had no idea how blind I had been my entire life. I had no idea that you were supposed to be able to make out faces from a distance. When I played baseball I used to watch the parking lot and when I saw someone in our color uniform I would walk from the field to the lot to see who it was because I had to. And speaking of baseball, I used to get so frustrated and not understand why I couldn’t hit. I knew I was as athletically inclined as anyone on the team but I couldn’t see. I actually just started leaning into pitches so I could get on base, I pretty much kept a bruise on my left hip all through middle school.

Having glasses opened up a new world for me, I world where I could see the board in school. A world where I didn’t have to lay right in front of the TV watching a Memphis Tigers Basketball game just so I could tell Elliot Perry from Todd Mundt (and this is even funnier if you know who they are). A world where I didn’t have to wonder what street I was on because I could actually see the signs. It was incredible. Even though I had these giant, ugly, turtle shell glasses I didn’t care because I could see! I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to go from being completely blind to having sight. But the man in John 9:25 does. He made the famous quote after being brought in and asked about Jesus:

He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

This kind of blindness I understand even better. I know what I’m like when I take my spiritual glasses off. I know how blind I can become to my own sin, and I certainly know what it’s like to live without Christ in the center of my life. Having a hard time seeing the board is nothing compared to having a hard time seeing the Savior. So I leave you with two things, make sure to have your child’s eyes tested at an early age, and make sure you focus on Jesus and can see his wonderful face.

We leave for Africa in 11 days, pray for us as we prepare for our new life in ministry in Nairobi, Kenya.

Click here to support Brett and Bronwyn!

A year ago yesterday I asked for prayer and there was an outpouring of support. I honestly have no idea what all was going on, I know my grandmother had died and I had just received a promotion at work that put me in a role that took me out of the trenches and I really love the trenches.  I really don’t know what is was that prompted me to write those words. I actually just had a conversation with someone that I needed “Facebook Memories with context”. However I did write them and people did pray and because of that a whirlwind of events begin, events that will now take my wife and I around the world. Prayer is powerful when it is brought before God, when it is real and when you mean it. It seems like such a small thing when you pray for someone, but it can have powerful results that resonate throughout history. So never be flippant about it, never say I’ll be praying for you if you don’t mean that you will be taking it to the throne of King Jesus. Prayer in the right hands can move God to action and change the course of history, save a life, produce great fruit, or just bring peace.

Click here to support Brett and Bronwyn!

We are so excited to be leaving in just a few weeks and officially getting to work in Kenya. I’ve been prioritizing what we want to accomplish in the first month after we arrive. For starters, we have a camp to plan and although a lot of the basic structure is there we definitely have some work to do. My plan is to have a retreat with our other camp staff pretty quickly so we can evaluate and plan out every aspect of camp, divide up jobs and hit the ground running with a plan that everyone is on board with. I absolutely love this kind of stuff, and we are fortunate enough to have already met the team but it’s one thing to work by email when there is an eight hour time difference, it’s quite another to all be in the same room together.

Another one of our big priorities is to begin finding and training staff, although we have done a good bit of that, there is much more to do. Most of the staff we have now are from the US and like Bronwyn and I they are raising their support. However, it will also be incredibly important to recruit and train local staff from Nairobi. That gets a little more difficult because camp doesn’t make enough money to pay staff the way camps in the USA do but I have some ideas on how we can make that work. Another major priority is recruitment of campers, gotta get those beds full! We have an amazing relationship with LuKenya Getaway which is where we hold camp. We don’t actually own this property but it is beautiful and it really is perfect for camp, they have also let BlueSky build ropes course elements and we pretty much take over everything during the summer. You can have the best camp in the world though and if nobody comes you have wasted time and money.

I guess at some point we will need to do things like unpack and find out where to buy food but that’s not as fun as thinking about the fun stuff like planning, marketing, and even digging into the budgets. However, the biggest thing is starting to build the relationships. BlueSky has an amazing team and we work with schools and churches and I can’t wait to start getting into all of that. What’s crazy is we still have some amazing exciting news to share but that will have to wait a little bit longer. If your reading this, it involves you and how we want you to be praying about coming and visiting. It’s one thing for you to be a part of our life from far away but it’s quite another for you to come see us, see what we are doing and be a part of it.

Please be praying for us as we are just a few weeks from living on the other side of the world. We are still working on finishing off our support team, if you are able or feel led just click the link below. 

Click here to support Brett and Bronwyn!

If you get a chance take a look at this picture and you will honestly see some of the most amazing people I have ever known. I could write a blog post about every single one of them. This picture is a few years old now but it’s from the St Jude Race in Memphis, TN that we volunteer at every December. It’s a fun event that really benefits a tremendous organization and I would like to say that we go every year just for that but honestly most of the people pictured here would have done just about anything that day if it meant we got to be together. This is by no means everyone that I wish was in this picture but it represents all those young men and women we have had the privilege to share our lives with. In less than a month we will head off to the other side of the world and begin building a new group a new family. However that doesn’t change anything about how special these people are. In fact we are hoping some of these people will become part of the new family and join us in Africa.

I look at this picture and can’t help but smile and honestly thank God that he put so many amazing people in my life. As I’m typing this I’m reminded of story after story I shared with these people, the trust they put in me and the trust I was able to put in them. I met so many of them when they were young some even as campers and then as they got older I was able to turn camp over to them.  There are people in this picture that have masters degrees, there is a United States Marine and a young man in the Army. There are several who go to incredibly prestigious universities and two college athletes, truly an amazing gathering of people. I have had so much joy watching them grow up, I have also had some pain at having to watch them make poor choices that led to at times terrible consequences, but I still love them all the same.

I hope you have people like this in your life. People younger than you that you are pouring into, people that remind you that you have to be right with God because they are counting on you. Young men and women who may impact the world in ways you never could but are better people because of the investment you made in them. People you have prayed with and prayed over, people you have cried with and laughed with and shared food with. What is the meaning of life after all? I’ll tell you it’s not hard. Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and body and let that love be alive in you so you can love others the same way. I’m proud of the work we have done here and I am excited about our new calling but mostly I’m glad to know that I know a Savior who loves me.

Click here to support Brett and Bronwyn!

I’m just going to be honest, these past few weeks have been challenging. I’m actually having a difficult time even putting it all together but basically I got sick, like 102 fever, achy all over flu sick and it was awful. However, in the middle of that we had this crazy cold snap and of course we had pipes freeze and bust so I shut the water off to the house and although we tried, it was going to be nearly a week before we could get a plumber to the house since they were all booked up with others with the same issue. Now, this is of course in the middle of us working to sell the house and like I said I am very sick. So finally we get the water working again and Bronwyn gets sick running a 101 temp and Bronwyn NEVER gets sick. She goes to the doctor and gets meds but she still isn’t getting better and finally finds out that the bacterial infection she has is resistant to the antibiotics they put her on so they switch her to another one and finally she starts getting a little better. That all leads up to us finding out the house we thought we were going to be living in in Kenya has fallen through and we are still not quite where we need to be with our support to leave. It was a very trying couple of weeks….

However, it looks like we are all well now, we have a buyer for our house in Memphis and already have a new and even better place to live in Kenya. Life is never perfect, it’s never easy. Giving your life to Christ you are never promised for everything to be easy and it to always go your way, but God has a plan in all of it. He is making us stronger and teaching us to be more reliant on Him. This entire thing has been an exercise in having to fully rely on God, we said from the start we wanted to be living testimonies to what God will do if people trust in Him completely. Looks like we will be leaving February 17th, I had originally hoped to be celebrating my birthday in Africa, which was this past Saturday,  but I also prayed for God’s perfect timing. I know that this is and am excited for what God will do next.

Be praying for us and if you are able become a part of our support team!
Click here to support Brett and Bronwyn!