Global Children's Forum Kenya

Hi friends!

I just got back from a wonderful trip to Kenya for Global Children's Forum 2013 conference. Grace Rwothumio and I traveled together by bus (a long and bumpy 13 hour ride each way) from Kampala and we got to meet up with hundreds of children's ministry leaders around the world. It was an amazing thing to be in one place with so many world changers! Children's leaders came from countries such as Australia, Philippines, USA, Africa, Nepal, India, Europe, Mexico, and the Middle East. The first two days were comprised of teams working on certain children's ministry projects. Grace and I were on the work team for a GCF Leadership Institute. We learned much and were able to offer much also. We are excited to see how the leadership institute will be formed over the next year! The last three days were spent all together hearing about Africa and the current needs in children's ministry along with strategizing how to move GCF forward and doing some "courageous thinking" in regards to children's ministry. It was such a fruitful time and so wonderful seeing people from so many different organizations and churches come together to work towards a common goal: reaching the 2.2 billion children of the world for Jesus.

At the end of this week I will be traveling to northeast Uganda with Pastor Charles OPendi (part of the KidZ at Heart Leadership Academy Launch Team) to visit a village called Tilling in Ngora district. Over the past few years a small group of children's workers from Gawa Church in Tilling have attended our KidZ at Heart trainings in Kampala and now we would like to bring KidZ trainings to their area so many children's workers in these rural areas can be trained. This upcoming trip will be a planning trip and I'm excited to see the ministry work going on in Ngora district and how KidZ at Heart can partner with them.

Then in June I will be traveling to East Kilimanjaro area of Tanzania to help train with a KidZ at Heart USA team for two weeks. I'm really looking forward to it! Other things that I've been working on are helping mobilize the Tanzania trip for June and also a South Africa trip that is scheduled for September of this year. In addition, I'm in the planning stages of doing a KidZ training in Jinja and Kaliro, Uganda for the last week of August. It's an exciting time here in Africa and I'm honored to be a part of it!!

I simply couldn't do any of this without my faithful prayer and support team. I'm very thankful for each of you and I'm praying for even more to join in the effort to reach children in Africa. Will you prayerfully consider giving a one-time or monthly gift?

My current financial needs are:

-$500 more needed towards my Tanzania trip. My funds are due May 13th.

-$1000 needed for living room furniture. God has really blessed me and my home in Kampala is coming along but I still have no living room furniture. Prices in Kampala are very expensive for furnishing. Any help is appreciated.

-$200 more in monthly support needed.


I'm praying for each of you and I'm so happy that I get to do this journey with you!

God Bless,
Shannon


To Donate Online:
http://www.worldoutreach.org/donations Select my Name. The system can process USA and International cards. You can also set up automatic Monthly gifts if you choose the "monthly" option.

Or Mail Checks to:
World Outreach Ministries, P.O. Box B, Marietta, GA 30061 (Designate for Routzahn, Fund Code #91)

Tanzania!

 

Hujambo! (Hello in Swahili)

Habari gani? (How are you in Swahili)

OK, I'm switching back to English now because that's about all that I know of Swahili so far :) Some of you are probably wondering, "Why is she speaking in Swahili anyways?", it's because I'm headed to Tanzania this June and that is what they speak there!

Greetings in the name of the Lord! I'm very excited about my upcoming adventure to my neighboring country (I'm in Uganda right now) of Tanzania this June with KidZ at Heart International! I just wanted to take some time to share with you regarding the ministry work I will be doing there. As you know I have lots of KidZ ministry trips on the horizon (Jinja in Uganda, Nairobi in Kenya this April, and other rural parts of Uganda like Gulu, Hoima, and Ngora later in the year) but I'd like to share more in detail about this Tanzania trip right now.

KidZ at Heart International traveled to Tanzania several years back to help train local Tanzanian children's ministry workers to better equip them to teach and reach kids for Christ. For 4 years, KidZ focused on the Hai District in Northern Tanzania and it was a great success. In 2008, KidZ at Heart Senior Editor for Training Materials, Valorie Eddy, was part of this trip and her heart for the local Tanzanians grew. She is now going to be leading a KidZ at Heart team to another area that hasn't had the opportunity to have children's ministry training. This year KidZ at Heart will be focusing on the East Kilimanjaro District and will continue to for at least 3 years. Many of you are probably saying "Kilimanjaro? That sounds familiar", that's because I'm referring to Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa! We will be ministering to villages under the slopes of Kilimanjaro :) I will be meeting up with our KidZ team there June 12th-29th. It's a wonderful team made up of 6 people from various parts of the USA that have a huge heart for children and training and equipping children's ministry leaders. I've already been skyping monthly with the team and I know we (Valorie, Corliss, Calissa, Kathleen, Rick, and myself) are truly going to make an impact in the lives of so many children and leaders throughout Tanzania. We will be holding a KidZ Ministry Equipping Conference for one week with Pastor Mtui's church. Children's ministry pastors and leaders from the surrounding areas (Marangu and Moshi) will also travel to attend. Together, we (me and you!) are going to be sharing the love of Christ with so many adults and children!

I simply couldn't do any of this ministry work without my sending team. So for this, I'm eternally thankful! Together we are making up the hands and feet of Christ to reach the nations! It is no small thing that you are doing, I want you to know and remember this. There are children on this continent that don't know the love of Jesus. There are children that don't have hope and are feeling neglected. There are leaders that have lost encouragement and want to give up because the work is so much and too hard. But your prayers and your giving are changing that. Through KidZ trainings, leaders are getting the skills and encouragement that they need and thousands of children's lives will be impacted and changed for the better through these leaders. Please don't ever forget this. God sees every integrated part of the work we are doing together :)

This trip is approaching quickly and I'm currently in need of $2000 to meet trip deadlines. Half is due April 12th, the remaining is due May 12th. I'm covering my own airfare costs to Tanzania ($600) and your monthly giving is still covering my living/ministry expenses for being here in Africa. Still, I am in need of raising as much of this $2000 trip cost as I can to cover the cost of accommodation, food, car transport, and ministry supplies for this trip to Tanzania.

Firstly, will you pray about this upcoming trip? Will you become one of my prayer partners and specifically pray for the team and the leaders/children we will minister to?

Secondly, will you consider donating towards this trip? I know together we can make this happen and I plan to put as much of the money I currently have towards this trip also.

I'm so very excited about being part of this amazing KidZ team to Tanzania!

Kwa heri (goodbye in Swahili) and Mungu akubariki (God bless you in Swahili)!

-Shannon


To Donate Online:
http://www.worldoutreach.org/donations Select my Name. The system can process USA and International cards. You can also set up automatic Monthly Gifts if you choose the "monthly" option.

Or Mail Checks to:
World Outreach Ministries, P.O. Box B, Marietta, GA 30061 (Designate for Routzahn, Fund Code #91)

KAMPALA!!

Greetings from Kampala, Uganda! It's been a busy and fulfilling two weeks since I landed here in my new homeland. And a blog update is long overdue, so here is what has been happening since you last heard from me. I met up with a KidZ at Heart USA team here on January 11th and we hit the ground running in preparation for a KidZ Ministry Equipping Conference (KMEC) at University Community Fellowship (UCF) Kampala January 14-18th. The KMEC was such a huge success! We had over 140 participants attend from all over Uganda and they were very eager to learn and walked away even more equipped to do children's ministry throughout the country. I was able to help train children's ministry pastors and leaders alongside Gordon West, co-founder of KidZ at Heart, in an advanced workshop about Spiritual Formation for Children. It was truly eye-opening to so many that attended and they were very thankful. During the week I was also able to attend a launch team meeting for KidZ At Heart Leadership Academy (KAHLA) East Africa. It's apparent that God is the midst of doing something very big here in Uganda regarding children's ministry and I've very honored and blessed to be a part of it. More news to come on this soon....

Our team was also blessed to attend a children's concert called Celebrate Kids last Sunday. This is a once-a-year event where various churches throughout Kampala come together with their children's ministry to sing and dance and celebrate a certain theme about God. This year's theme was the Word of God. It was so much fun seeing the creativity and talent each church brought to the concert!

The KidZ At Heart USA team flew back home last Monday and I stayed on in Kampala to start getting myself settled. Uganda is a beautiful country with the kindest of people. God has really blessed me with incredible missionaries and UCF church family members to help me along the way. Pastors Grace and Micah Rwothumio have been wonderful as I stay at their team house until I find my own accommodation. And a UCF church member named Godwin has been incredibly helpful as we search for my housing and vehicle (which I have just purchased! A silver Honda CRV, pics to come soon!!!). I really don't know what I would do without all of their help. God is very faithful!

So these days I'm learning to drive in the crazy city of Kampala (traffic and the roads can be a nightmare), I'm searching and believing God to show me the perfect accommodation very soon, I'm connecting with so many children's leaders that want more KidZ At Heart training, I'm trying new foods (Ugandans eat many fresh fruits like pineapple, mango and banana, fresh-grown vegetables, pocho [corn maize], matoke [boiled and mashed green banana] ugali [millet], chipati [Asian flatbread], and cassava), and I'm listening to all of the crazy animals sounds this city has to offer (birds and monkeys). It's quite the adventure!!!

I'm also praying and believing that God will provide and many of you will partner into the ministry work I'm doing with KidZ At Heart here in East Africa. Together we can make such a huge impact here for the children. Some of my current financial and prayer needs are as follows:

• Most all of the accommodation within my budget is unfurnished. Furnished places are ridiculously expensive. Therefore I'm in need of at least $2,000-$3,000 to furnish my place ASAP. (This includes such things as a bed, kitchen appliances [refrigerator, stove, microwave, washing machine], desk, living room and dining room furniture, etc). I've been told I can get some really good deals so I'm believing it will only cost this much and even less.

• I'm believing in more monthly partners which would allow me to sponsor several children throughout Uganda and cover their school fees. More monthly giving will also help in regards to my travel finances throughout Africa. In June I go to Tanzania with a KidZ At Heart team.

• Please pray for my Uganda work permit to be processed smoothly and in a timely manner. It is currently in process and we have an agent working on it.

• Please also pray for a smooth transition into this new culture. I truly believe this is where God wants to use me in this next season.

I'm very blessed to be doing what I'm doing here in Africa. And I'm forever thankful for each of you that has helped in your giving and with your prayers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and I'm excited about this new adventure and what God has in store!

Be blessed,
Shannon


To Donate Online:
http://www.worldoutreach.org/donations Select my Name. The system can process USA and International cards. You can also set up automatic Monthly Gifts if you choose the "Monthly" option.

Or Mail Checks to:
World Outreach Ministries, P.O. Box B, Marietta, GA 30061 (Designate for Routzahn, Fund Code #91)

Being back in Africa!

 

It's been 3 weeks now since I've been back in Africa. It's been a time of slowly readjusting to life here and catching up with good friends in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Readjusting to hot weather, slow internet, busy stores, bumpy roads.....but also remembering why I came back to this great continent...it's for the beautiful people that just fill your heart with joy.

This little guy in the picture above is named Talent and he's the son of the gardener named Sam at the house I'm staying at in Zimbabwe right now. He's a joy to be around and everyday he will say to me in the only English he knows "Hi, how are you?!, I'm Talent, I'm fine thank you". He's just cute as can be and he's a constant reminder of the children of Africa I have come back to minister to through KidZ At Heart International. There are children here on this continent that need to know Jesus. There are children's ministry workers and pastors that need equipping and training to reach kids for Christ.

As a MobiliZer for KidZ At Heart International, I will be helping bring teams from the USA to countries throughout Africa to put on week-long KidZ Ministry Equipping Conferences. Here locals in various African countries will get the training they need to effectively do children's ministry in their country. They will learn how to write their own lessons, use the materials they have available to them, and creatively teach Christ to the children. It's such an awesome thing to think about!!! We have teams this upcoming year traveling to Uganda, Tanzania, Cameroon, Kenya, and South Africa.

In January I will be headed to Kampala, Uganda to meet up with our USA team to help with KidZ At Heart training at Pastor Micah and Grace Rwothumio's church, University Community Fellowship. Then I will be staying on after to base myself in Kampala. In June I also have the awesome opportunity to be part of the KidZ At Heart Tanzania team!

Your continued prayers are appreciated as I settle in Africa.

• Please pray for the speedy processing of my Uganda work visa
• Please pray for the KidZ At Heart Uganda team that will be in Kampala January 10-22
• Please pray God leads me to the right accommodation and vehicle as I base myself in Kampala and provides a great support system of church family and fellow missionaries
• Please pray for continued provision in my finances
• And please pray for God to bring the right people to join KidZ At Heart teams coming to Africa. If interested please email me at sroutzahn@kidzatheart.org and check out our website at www.kidzatheart.org

I'm so very thankful for each of you and continue to pray that God blesses your life!

In Christ,
Shannon


To Donate Online:
http://www.worldoutreach.org/donations Select my Name. The system can process USA and International cards. You can also set up automatic Monthly Gifts if you choose the "Monthly" option.

Or Mail Checks to:
World Outreach Ministries, P.O. Box B, Marietta, GA 30061 (Designate for Routzahn, Fund Code #91)

Hope for Sharon and Gloria

   

Meet Sharon and Gloria, the newest students of Wells of Hope Academy in Kampala, Uganda. These precious sisters have stolen my heart and with your help we have been able to bring hope into their lives. I first heard about the organization Wells of Hope just a few months ago. I connected with Francis Ssuubi, founder of Wells of Hope, through a missionary friend of mine named Teresa Kemp who does prison ministry around the world (check out her ministry at www.breakingchainsint.org).  I was intrigued by what Wells of Hope is doing for children of prisoners in Uganda. Since I will be based in Kampala, Uganda, very soon with KidZ At Heart International, I wanted to see how I could help in the lives of children close by and meet them one day soon.

Sharon and Gloria come from Northern Uganda, west of the Nile River, in a village called Etori in the district of Arua. This is about a 7 hour drive from Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Sharon is 6 years old and Gloria is 15 years old. They come from a family of seven children from different mothers but the same father. Their father has been serving in prison for a long time. When their mothers remarried they were abandoned and left to fend for themselves. Gloria had to drop out of school two years ago to look after her youngest sister Connie who was 6 months old at the time. Gloria also looked after her sisters Sharon and Judy. Their grandmother was sick so couldn't help them. Life at home was very difficult for Gloria and her sisters. They would have one meal a day and some days they would have to go without food.

Francis Ssuubi of Wells of Hope learned about Gloria and her sisters and saw the need to help. He spoke with her uncle and grandmother and convinced them of the importance of continued schooling. In African culture most families believe that a 15 year old like Gloria doesn't deserve to go to school. They believe that she should be married off and only do house chores. Francis worked very hard getting Gloria and her sister Sharon to Wells of Hope Academy (their sisters Connie and Judy remain with their grandmother and aunt who will look after them the best they can). Gloria and Sharon were overjoyed when Wells of Hope came to their village to help them. Since being at school, Gloria and Sharon were even able to visit her father in prison. It was a joyous occasion for all involved! I'm told that Gloria wants to be a teacher and can write/speak some English and Sharon wants to be a policewoman and is very active. With your help we were able to transport them from the poverty they faced in their village to Wells of Hope Academy in Kampala. We bought them suitcases, clothes, mattresses, bedsheets, blankets, and books. They are thriving now and I praise God for this!! In addition to Wells of Hope Academy, Wells of Hope also helps over 120 children with school fees, they have an HIV/AIDS Prisoners Support Project, offer counseling to children of prisoners, and they have a children's choir.

Be sure to check out their website at: www.wellsofhope.org


So what's new on my horizon?

In just 2 weeks I leave for Africa to work as the Africa MobiliZer for KidZ At Heart International!! www.kidzatheart.org I will be helping equip children's ministry leaders throughout Africa so they can reach and teach kids just like Gloria and Sharon for Christ :)

Will you help partner into this amazing ministry? I'm still in need of $500 more in monthly support and up to $10,000 in up-front expenses due to the cost of living/vehicle cost in Kampala being higher and traveling more throughout the continent with KidZ At Heart.

To Donate Online:http://www.worldoutreach.org/donations Select my Name. The system can process USA & International cards. You can also set up automatic Monthly Gifts if you choose the "Monthly" option.

Or Mail Checks to:
World Outreach Ministries, P.O. Box B, Marietta, GA 30061 (Designate for Routzahn, Fund Code #91)

May God bless your giving and bring you abundant joy knowing you are making a huge difference in the lives of African children!

A New Adventure Awaits!

                          

Dear Friends and Supporters,

In Acts 16:6-10, we are told that the Holy Spirit prevented Paul and Silas “from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time.” That night, Paul had a vision of the Macedonian “pleading with him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us!’ So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.”

I, too, believe that the Holy Spirit has redirected my ministry from Zimbabwe to East Africa. And I am writing to tell you about these exciting changes and how you can partner with me to reach the children of Africa.

In September of 2011 before leaving for Africa I was able to attend a children's ministry training called KidZtitute with an organization called KidZ At Heart International. At KidZtitute I was better equipped to do children's ministry not only in the USA but cross-culturally also. I enjoyed this conference so much that in January of this year I joined a KidZ At Heart team in Kampala, Uganda to help lead a KidZ Ministry Equipping Conference. This is an intensive week-long conference where African children's ministry leaders and teachers are equipped to present God's word to children in effective, culturally relevant, age-appropriate ways. It was a wonderful and fruitful trip.

Now, I'm happy to say that KidZ At Heart would like me to be on their team full-time! I very much believe in what KidZ is doing throughout the world and I'm honored to be a part of it. KidZ At Heart International exists to equip people to reach and teach kids for Christ within their own culture. I will be a MobiliZer with KidZ At Heart while being based in Africa, mainly in Kampala, Uganda, and South Africa. A MobiliZer is the point person for successful launch of short-term teams for the purpose of equipping people within their own culture to teach kids for Christ. We have teams for 2013 going to countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, Tanzania, Honduras, Philippines, Latvia, and the list goes on and on. I will also go on many of these short-term trips in Africa to help with training, help coordinate KidZ ministries in East Africa, conduct follow-up with churches throughout Africa as they implement KidZ training elements, coordinate with KAHLA (KidZ At Heart Leadership Academy) leadership team in Uganda, and be with the children as much as possible!

I believe this is an exciting opportunity for all of us in order to reach kids for Christ. The world's 2.2 billion children need to know, love, and follow Jesus. Will you be part of helping the 2.2?


Please pray. This is a major transition and will require many details and decisions about relocating to East Africa. Will you consider praying for me regularly if you are not already doing so?

Please give. I'm currently in need of more monthly support. Will you consider joining my monthly support team or increasing your monthly amount? Or perhaps you would like to give a one-time donation? While I transition back into Africa and into my role with KidZ At Heart, my donation system with World Outreach will stay the same (see details below).

Please go. Please consider joining one of KidZ At Heart’s short-term teams to any of the East African locations I will be MobiliZing. I’d love to have you with me in Africa!

For more information about KidZ At Heart check out our website at www.kidZatheart.org

Be very blessed!
Shannon


To Donate Online:
http://www.worldoutreach.org/donations  Select my Name. The system can process USA & International cards. You can also set up automatic Monthly Gifts if you choose the "Monthly" option.

Or Mail Checks to:
World Outreach Ministries, P.O. Box B, Marietta, GA 30061 (Designate for Routzahn, Fund Code #91)

Tutoring, Cows, Love, and Much More

I’m now in my 6th month of Global Leadership Academy here in Swaziland, Africa as I prepare for ministry full-time in Zimbabwe. God definitely put this internship along my path in order to do a deep work within me so I can be as prepared as possible for the journey ahead of me. I’m absolutely certain of this. I’ve had the time and solitude needed to examine areas in my walk with the Lord that need to be strengthened. What God has been showing me most of all is his great desire to be loved above all else. To put it simply, God just wants my love over everything else in this world. And He wants my love by showing complete surrender, absolute trust, faith, and obedience. And to be planted firm in these things God has to make us walk through them. It’s the only way He can truly teach us. And that’s what He’s been doing for me. And as painful as it may be sometimes, I’m so eternally grateful to Him because I know I’m being strengthened for what lies ahead. This internship is a blessing; I see God’s hand all over it.

My room in my rondavel at GLA campus has one of the best views. It looks out to surrounding mountains, a beautiful lake, and cattle grazing. One night I couldn’t quite get to sleep because there was a cow that just kept mooing. It just wouldn’t stop. I asked my roommate Goodness if she heard it and why it was being so loud. She laughed and said that the mother cow was mooing because she had lost her calf and was trying desperately to find it. I know absolutely nothing about livestock but living in Africa has me learning all kinds of new things. When the mother cow would moo then you could hear faintly in the distance the calf mooing back. The calf and mother cow did this all night and into the morning. The mother cow was in such distress because she couldn’t locate where the calf was. Later in the morning the mooing stopped and I believe she found her calf. Why I’m telling you all of this is because it got me thinking about God’s love for us. Just like the mother cow, God won’t stop calling us until we are all found. He doesn’t want any of us lost. I was brought to tears as these cows searched for each other. My roommate probably thought I was crazy crying over these cows but I was learning a much deeper lesson in all of it.

The past few months I’ve had the great opportunity to tutor with a 10 year old boy named Bongiswa at the I Am Not Forgotten Home next to GLA. Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon a group of us interns go over to help some of the kids with their homework. I’m not quite sure how it happened but a few weeks into it Bongiswa asked me to help him. So we’ve been practicing spelling in English, writing skills, and math. It’s a good thing I’m helping a 10 year old because math was never my best, lol! Several weeks after tutoring Bongiswa I got interested in what his story was. Why was he at the I Am Not Forgotten Home? So I started asking him questions. Bongiswa is very quiet and sweet. But he talks when you ask him things. I asked him how many brothers and sisters he has and he told me 11! I was shocked! He started laughing. That’s a lot of siblings. He said he has 6 brothers and 5 sisters. I then asked him if he had parents and he said that he has a father. I didn’t ask him more about his family because I didn't want to bring up any hurt feelings. But I did speak with Thombie, the house mom, and she said that Bongiswa's dad had 12 children from 12 different women and that Bongiswa's mother passed away and then his father didn't want to take care of him anymore. It always breaks my heart to hear this but I know that Bongiswa has a loving home now with Thombie and the other kids. Some things I learned about Bongiswa: he is super smart, his favorite thing to do is read, he likes playing soccer, and his favorite colors are yellow, green, and white. I know this boy has such a bright future ahead of him. He's very well-mannered and smart. He's been a joy to be around.

I want to also share with you how your support money has been helping while I'm in Swaziland. You are such a blessing to many people both in Swaziland and Zimbabwe!

- With your financial help you are providing me with the preparation I need for full-time ministry in Zimbabwe. Global Leadership Academy is just the place for this.

-We have been able to help some of the young girls at Healing Place Church in Mbabane go to youth camp this summer.

-We have been able to bless the interns considerably by getting them a birthday gift when it's their birthday. This may not seem like a big deal but it definitely is. Most of the interns have never recieved a birthday present in their whole life. It's been a joy seeing them so happy and excited on their special day.

-We have been able to buy some clothing and special gifts for Sibonelo and Bongiswa.

-We have been able to pay school fees for the boy I met in Zimbabwe in December named Talent.

I want to thank you for your continued prayer and financial support. I couldn't do it without you and I'm very thankful!

Until my next post :)

Be Blessed!
Shannon


To Donate Online:
http://www.worldoutreach.org/ Click Donate and Select my Name, USA and International Cards Accepted


Or Mail Checks to:
World Outreach Ministries, P.O. Box B, Marietta, GA 30061 (Designate for Routzahn, Fund Code #91)