Transcript

American Family Radio thanks sponsor Preborn for supporting pro life advocacy

Dr. Jessica Peck: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword BABY or visit preborn.com/AFR hello

 : and welcome to the Dr. Nursemama show, prescribing hope for healthy families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey there, friends, and welcome to my favorite time of day, even if it's not my favorite day of the week. I know, I know it's a Monday, but we're going to give you a great Monday. Today we have something really amazing, such a heartwarming story and an adventure from across the world that I'm going to share with you today. But before we get to my guest, let me remind you, let me remind you of a couple of things. First of all, we've got the Ten Commandments project going on right now. It is a project where we're trying to encourage kids to memorize the Ten Commandments and do a speech about it. Pastor Joseph Parker was on my show on May 15, and he wants you to be involved. So you can listen to that show or you can also email you can email Joseph Parker [email protected] or you can email that. Yes, just go. That's going to be the best place to go. [email protected] if you have any questions about that. Also want to remind you that registration is open for AFA at the Ark. That's going to be October 29th and 30th at the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter in Kentucky. And you can go to afa.netevents and I'll talk more about that tomorrow. But what I'm talking about today is something even farther than Kentucky. I am talking about a country on the other side of the world. So actually, I've just gotten back from a trip and I am so excited to welcome Dr. Katy Vogelaar with me to talk about this trip today. Now, Dr. Vogelaar is a clinical assistant professor at Baylor University's Louise Harrington School of Nursing, and she is a family nurse practitioner. She specializes in emergency care, urgent care, allergy and asthma care. But more than that, she is really passionate about improving healthcare access for underserved populations and really mobilizing Christian healthcare providers to use their God given skills in service to others. She has clinical experience for uninsured and underinsured, operated by Watermark Community Church in Dallas. She has done so many different things and she just recently was the leader of a trip to Kenya. That's where actually I have been for the last two weeks. And I've been. I. I know I've still been joining you. We prepared for that in advance. But I was so fortunate to be able to join the trip to Kenya where we worked at a place called Naomi's Village. We visited a place called Naomi's Village that is a home for children who have lost their parents. And there's also a school there. Amazing life changing experience. And Dr. Vogelaar is here to tell us about what it's like to lead a mission trip. And we hope to encourage you to think about engaging in missions with your family, whether that's somewhere in your community or somewhere as far away as Africa. Katy, welcome to the show. I'm so glad to have you here today.

Dr. Katy Vogelaar: Thank you, Jessica. I'm so happy to be here and to be talking about this topic. We just spent the last two weeks in Kenya together. And, you know, I loved and respected you before that, but even more so after being boots on the ground with you and leading this team that we led together. So I'm so, so happy to be here.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I know. I miss you already. I feel like, you know, we laughed, we cried. It was definitely better than Cats because it was, you know, it was God on the move and we got to see the work of God every single day. And there's something so special about stepping out in faith, stepping out of your comfort zone, doing something that's maybe a little bit scary.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And seeing what God will do.

Katy says she felt called to nursing since she was a baby

And Katy, we've had you on the show before, but for those who maybe missed that, why don't you just reintroduce yourself? Tell them a little bit about your call to nursing and your love for missions.

Dr. Katy Vogelaar: So, I felt called to nursing since I was a baby. Ah. I am an identical twin and my twin and I were born premature. And every year on our birthday, my parents would show us pictures of us as preemies in the nicu. And it was the nurses that were holding us. My parents could identify every single one of their names and just told us what an amazing impact those nurses made on not only us, but them. They gave them hope, they prayed with them. And from a young age, I knew I wanted to make that kind of impact on people's. Lives. I didn't think about missions, honestly, until I got to be a little bit older and really experienced what it was like to engage with people in my own city in Dallas, Texas, when I lived there, who were from all over the world. And seeing how a church at that time, it was watermark, community church in Dallas could meet the tangible needs of people, and pair that with the gospel through a clinic that they started for underserved individuals. So I really started becoming passionate about what I would call missions just in my backyard, and then from there, got the opportunity to go to Haiti a couple times, the Dominican Republic, and then eventually to Kenya and really see that heart for missions expand beyond just my neighborhood.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And I'm so glad that you did, because this was not your first trip to Kenya. It was my first trip to Kenya and seeing everything through new eyes and seeing the groundwork that you'd laid there. One of the most important parts of missions is relationships.

The best practice in missions is to go in with a ton of humility

So before we get into talk some of the specifics of the trip of what we saw and what God did, let's talk a little bit about just some basics of good practices in missions, and let's look at what that looks like.

Dr. Katy Vogelaar: So I think overall, the best practice in missions is to go in with a ton of humility, understanding that you don't know what it's like to live in that country or that community. You can't fully understand what it's like to be, you know, a member of that community. And so you really have to find, a partner that is able to really help you as much as you can to understand that, but also find a partner that is empowering and working through the local community. I think the last thing we want to do is come over there with kind of a savior complex. Oh, here are the nurses from this university that are coming to save us and to teach us about things. but really the attitude is we are going to partner with locals who are working in their own communities, who are, you know, glorifying the Lord and glorifying the local church in their own communities. And we're working alongside of them as true partners. We're learning from them as much as we are imparting anything. So I really think it to. To prepare yourself well to go on mission, in any capacity is really to first really search your heart and, and to really make sure that there is no, like, savior complex inside of you and really put humble spirit. Allow, the Lord to ask the Lord for a humble spirit and then find A partner who is empowering the local community. because the last thing I want is for, us to go do all this great work, and then, you know, we leave a huge void when we. When we leave. I want that work to continue, and it continues through the local church, wherever you go.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You're so right about that. You're so right about the local church, and you're so right about humility, too, because when we go. And especially. I remember the first time I ever took a mission trip to someplace that was completely different than anywhere I had ever been before. I went to India, and I had no idea what to expect. And it's really hard because you really realize how much you look at things through the lens of your experience, through the lens of your home, and you think, oh, well, this is how we do things. And you should do things how we do them. And when you take that step back and you can learn so much, first of all, you can learn about how much we put so much emphasis on things in America and other cultures. I have found to put so much more emphasis on people, and that has been really convicting to me. But to see innovative ways that people do things, I think that. That humility is a really important thing, but it can be a really hard thing to do.

Katy's first mission trip was to Haiti a decade ago

How did you feel when you first went somewhere that was way out of your comfort zone? And what are some things that you learned and that might be helpful to other people who maybe haven't had yet the opportunity to go on a mission like this?

Dr. Katy Vogelaar: Well, my first mission trip, international mission trip, was to Haiti. and that was probably a decade ago. And I was not prepared to go, Jessica. I. I don't. I really knew what I was going to see. And, the level of poverty and need and despair that I was, that I encountered was very overwhelming. And so I think first, like, you just have to realize that there are some emotions that you're going to feel, feel when you encounter something that's different from how you typically grew up or experience in the United States. And so, I just remember feeling really overwhelmed. But I went with some leaders that really helped me to process what I was feeling, to process the things I was seeing. And that was really helpful for me, not to spiral in despair, not to think I've got to move to Haiti and I've got to fix all these problems. But to really put it into perspective, I think it allowed me to depend on the Lord and ask the Lord, what does it mean to be faithful in this moment? not to have A, I'm the answer. I need to move here and fix all the things attitude. But how can I encourage the people that are already there and encourage the people that are doing this work day in and day out? and so, yeah, that was. I mean, the first time I ever went. I just remember feeling really overwhelmed. And I think it was people that had gone before me that were on the team with me that helped me to process. I was honest with how I felt, with what I saw, and they helped me to process those emotions in a way that was really healthy. And take them to the Lord. Pray to the Lord. He cares for the people all over the world. Remember we were singing he's got the Whole world in his hands with the kids at the school, and just reminding myself of that. God sees these people. God knows their needs. God knows their situations, their traumas, their heartaches. And he sent me to engage with them right now, but he's got them far more than I have them. but you really need some people to really be around you, to process those things with you so that you don't either become jaded to them. Oh, there's too many problems. I can't do anything about it or think you're the solution. Right. Because I don't want people to think they're the solution. Right. God's church. This is what gets me excited about the church, Jessica. God's the solution to access to health care, to poverty, to slavery. God's church is the answer to that. Like his kingdom and his people are the answer to that. And so that was my experience the first time. and every time I go, I think I have that same experience in a different lens.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Amen. Amen. And amen. And it's beautiful to see God's church using all of the gifts that they've been given. And we really got to see that on this team that we went with, because we went with a team that was part nursing and part engineering. And I think that was such a beautiful part of the experience is everybody coming in there with a little bit of a different mindset, a little bit of a different skill set, a little bit of a different worldview, and then really be able to collaborate together and partner with the Kenyan people to really try to help some of those problems. And what can we do to encourage them? What can we do to uplift them? What can we do to work together to solve some of these problems that they were facing? So talk a little bit about that interprofessional element, because I know that you love that, too.

Dr. Katy Vogelaar: I mean, that's what we do as, healthcare providers, right? Is that we work within a team. We rely on each other's expertise and specialties. You need a lot of humility to do that. and it was always our intention when this trip was first imagined that it would be interdisciplinary. we focused primarily on nursing, engineering, because that's the two faculty that kind of stuck with the trip. But it was so incredible to see. We tackled a couple of problems. We tackled indoor air quality, which is a significant problem, and a health disparity for women and children in rural parts of Africa and Kenya specifically. And to see our, nursing students come up with some assessments. How do we assess the respiratory system? While the engineers were working on testing air quality and redesigning a stove, and both tackling the same issue from different perspectives was really a tangible picture of the body of Christ, right? Where there are different, body parts all working together for, the same goal. And it was a great way for us to show our students, like, this is how the body of Christ works. No part of the body is more important. Engineering is not more important than nursing. Nursing is not more important than engineering. and we both see the world a little bit different, and thank God we do, because I could assess the respiratory system and talk about what to do if you're coughing all day long, but if they're still breathing the same indoor air and stove, you know, exhaust and. And the stove isn't fixed, then that's pointless. Right? So I just. It was a beautiful picture to me of. Of how we can work together and honor one another and honor each other's gifts and abilities. and just to have our students do that, like, before you're even out of your 20s, to be able to work closely with somebody else and. And learn from their perspective is such a gift.

Dr. Jessica Peck: It was such a gift. Some of those community outreach that we did, those were just some of our favorite things. Katy. I know. And I think about, you know, the one time where we went to go do a water tank project to really give a family, some access to clean water, and partnering with the school and then partnering with the engineers, and then the nurses arriving and thinking, okay, wait, how are we really going to build this water tank? Because this is a skill set I don't have. Although we did have one nursing student who jumped right in there. And we also had an engineering student who came outside to minister to the children who were in the neighborhood where everybody served. And even when the day didn't go exactly like we thought it would. Those were the times when God showed up the most and God taught us the most and God gave us the most beautiful gifts. And we'll share with you about some, of those moments when we come back with Dr. Katy Vogelaar, nurse practitioner and professor at Baylor University and will tell you a little bit more about Naomi's village, this beautiful place in Kenya. I'll see you right on the other side of this break.

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Love God Love People by Danny Gokey: I've been running in circles Jumping the hurdles Getting caught in that rush Doing so much I'm feeling kind of worn out all this checking the boxes Trying to be flawless has me spinning my head Catching my breath Too afraid to slow down I tell myself to keep this up that God wants more than just my love But I've been complicated things it's just like me to overthink Gotta keep it real simple, Keep it real simple Bring everything right back to ground zero. Cause it all comes down to this. Love God and love people. We're living a world.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is love God, love people. By Danny Gokey And that's exactly what we're talking about today.

Dr. Katy Vogelaar is a clinical assistant professor at Baylor University

So actually, for the last two, a little over two weeks, I have been in Kenya. I'm talking today to Dr. Katy Vogelaar She is a clinical assistant professor, nurse practitioner at Baylor University. And she was the leader of an interdisciplinary missions team composed of, college students who were nurses and engineers who joined her and the engineering faculty. Dr. Pack. It wasn't confusing at all to have Dr. Pack and Dr. Pack, but we were all there, together. I was so grateful to be able to witness this beautiful experience. We went to a place called Naomi's Village. In Kenya. And Katy, I want to hear your story about how you first heard about Naomi's village and how that came to fruition to you going now multiple times to partner with this beautiful, incredible, miraculous ministry that's right in the middle of Africa.

Dr. Katy Vogelaar: Well Jessica, I was the you last time I went. So I went with ah, one of our dear friends, Dr. Laura Butler. Her daughter had stumbled across Naomi's village. I don't even know how she heard about it, but she was looking for an intern in a gap semester between finishing her prereqs and going to nursing school. And she went, she and her brother actually. So Laura, both of Laura's kids went to Naomi's village for about six to eight weeks in a spring semester just to go serve. And Laura went to go visit them and just was in awe of this organization and came back and she said Katy we have got to take nursing students. specifically she wanted us to take pre nursing students because for a long time our university did not have any mission trips specifically for pre nursing students. And we know that many of the students who come to a faith based university, a Christian university, come to a nursing program because they want to do missions, they want to serve in some way. And so she said katie, we've got to plan a pre nursing mission trip. So last year In May of 25 I went for the first time and honestly I had no idea what to expect. I was a part of some of the plans but it was really Laura that was driving it the whole way. And so I had the experience that you had this time where I was just going and I was learning things afresh. I was wide eyed and expected everywhere we went because I was just taking everything in. after that first trip, we actually before the first trip I got to meet the founders of Naomi's village, Bob and Julie Mendonza. They're both Baylor Bears, they're both Baylor grads. I actually went to coffee them once with Laura and we kind of dreamed about what it would look like for nursing students to come to nami's village. And that was really sweet. and ever since then I have been actively involved with their organization, went to their gala to learn more about them. What they do is incredible. The impact they have on their community in my Mahu, Kenya is just absolutely incredible. And the holistic care that they give the students, the children at Nami's village, children's home is just what keeps me coming back. And, and before we even left Kenya. Dr. Peck, I was literally submitting our application to go next year. I mean, I, I can't wait to go back and I can't wait to bring students back to experience, the. The paradise of a, Paradise is a bad word. Maybe they all. They call it the happiest place on earth in Kenya is Kenya Cornerstone Preparatory Academy. Just the way that love the kids there is amazing.

Dr. Jessica Peck: It did. It just completely filled our hearts. And I was able to meet Bob and Julie before we left. And the thing that impressed me most, Katy, about their story is that, you know, Bob is an orthopedic surgeon and he was working here in the United States, but was just given an opportunity to do a very short term mission in Kenya where he came to operate, on people who needed it. And that turned into just a calling on his heart and really Julie's heart saying, we, we've got to do more here. We've got to do more. We can't just operate and leave. And so they started Naomi's village, which is a home for children who have lost their parents. And such a, beautiful work that it's going there. And so let's talk about that for a little bit and then we'll talk about the school. But in this, in this place, Katy, you know, when I, when I walked in, like you, I cannot believe the love and care that is there. And when we walked in, the first time that we met, that I met these children, this was how I went on these, on this trip, they us into their nightly devotional time. And these little children, I mean, I'm talking first and second graders, they led the adults in a devotional time. They led us in song, they led us in prayer, they led us in scripture reading. They invited us into what God was doing in their lives. They sang over us, they prayed over us. I mean they are just. Their faith was so humbling. And you're right, by the time we got to seeing he's got the whole world in his hands, like, I was just seeing that in a way that I had not seen before. And even what really got me was when they started seeing the little tiny babies, I was like, okay, well I, I am done. Now I could just go straight to heaven because this is such a beautiful thing. So talk a little bit about Naomi's village and the work that is, that is going on there and how you were able to bring your team to partner.

Dr. Katy Vogelaar: So, ah, Naomi's village home is, like you said, a home, a children's home. right now they have a hundred total orphans that are living there, in really what I would call just community. They have aunties, those are the caretakers, that there is so much intentionality. The way that the organization pours into the aunties, the training they give them about trauma, informed care, about how to care well for these kiddos who have experienced a lot, a lot in their life was so inspiring for me to learn. and just like you said, our team was able to walk alongside and just experience some of the daily life of the kids at Nami's village home. Whether it was shooting basketball hoops outside and playing games. I'll never forget there was one evening before devotions that a couple of the teenage girls had all most of our nursing school girls huddled around them and they were telling stories of like love life, like fairy tale love life story. And just I think I remember talking to like this is the universal experience of girlhood to talk about crushes and love, how that was. Our students were able to see that while they're thousands of miles away, maybe different circumstances in their lives, different upbringing, different childhoods. There's so much that relates us together, obviously girl teenhood, romance, but also underlying that just the Lord and how he unites us so much so not only were we able to participate in just experiencing life with those kiddos, but one of my favorite things we got to do is we got to equip the aunties and Jessica, you and I got to and with our students of course we got to teach the aunties just general first aid, life saving skills. These are the caretakers of these kids. They're with them 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. And we wanted to give them some skills. What do you do if a kid starts choking? What do you do if a kid passes out, has a seizure? And that was so, so impactful for them. Just to give them, show them that they have worth and that they can make a huge impact on those kids lives not only in what they do every day, which is just be incredible parental figures for them and caretakers for them pouring into them, but also some really tangible, like how do you care for somebody when they scrape their knee or, or choke? So I thought that was really great

Dr. Jessica Peck: and you know, we really learned from each other. One of the things that we learned in that was again about the Kenyan culture being so relational and valuing people. It wasn't just the skills or resources. They wanted to get to know us and they taught us so much, Katy, about how to see people as made in God's image. And it didn't matter, you know, if we grew up in the United States or if they grew up in Kenya or where we were from or what our life experiences has been, that uniting experience that we are all made in the image of God, and God has a purpose and a plan for our lives, even if that looks incredibly different. And he had brought us together to encourage each other in that moment. That was one of my favorite things. And they taught us so much, Katy, about remembering someone name and, and getting to know someone and really validating them as a person who was made by God. And I think so often here, you know, we, we here in the United States, we look at people through the lens of accomplishment or credentials or, possessions, you know, wealth, that they have some sort of status, like what social collateral do you have? And there it was just such a, a really beautiful grounding experience. I feel like we could really learn from them in that. And there was one precious little girl, like about two years old. Oh, my goodness, Katy, she. She's so, so, so precious. And I just remember our girls pushing her on the swing, and they would sing that song, praise the Lord, and then she would just go, oh, my soul. Like at the top of her lungs. It was so. It was so incredibly precious. There were so many things that were so precious about that. And if you want to learn more about Naomi's village and you can go to Naomi's village.org Now, this is called Naomi, after Naomi in the Bible. And that is the inspiration for that. And where you go, I'll go. And you can actually sponsor a child. You can donate, you can find out more about the work. Maybe even you want to take a team over there to see the work that they are doing. There are teams that are going all summer long. And that's a, That's a beautiful part of what, what is going on now. That's an extension of Naomi's village. Something that grew out of that was Cornerstone Preparatory Academy.

In rural Kenya, the teacher student ratio is 80 to one

Tell us about that.

Dr. Katy Vogelaar: Yeah, so in Kenya, especially in rural Kenya, the teacher student ratio is. Bob and Julia said like 80 to one. so 80 students to one teacher. And schooling, for a lot of rural Kenya is, subpar. Right. it's more like crowd control than it is really, teaching students. And Bob and Julie and Cornerstone Preparatory Academy believe that, that education is, the way that we can really help kids break the cycle of poverty. the mission of Cornerstone is to Help develop the next generation of leaders for Kenya. And, boy, does everything that Cornerstone does every day, serve that mission, the intentionality, like I said, even about Nami's village, but the intentionality in Cornerstone Preparatory of just speaking life and truth and dignity into these kids. So, for example, what they wanted us to do is to do a STEM fair while we were there. So we had engineering students who had all sorts of really cool gadgets. last year, they brought a 3D printer. This year, they brought some sort of electrical board and an air quality tester and all sorts of fun gadgets that I have no idea about because I'm not engineering at all. We, as nursing students, brought posters of pregnant women, and boy, was that very, enlightening to some of these students. But the goal behind it, was to show these students, here are your possibilities. Many of y' all in that room, right? Many of the students in that room, could be engineers, they could be nurses, they could be doctors, they could be scientists. And that's just not a message they're hearing. They're not hearing, here's what your future is, and how do we help you get there? They're hearing, here's what your current situation is, and you'll never get out of it. And so the fact that they invited us to do a STEM fair so that we could show these kids here's what it's like to listen to lungs. And I shared with them from my daily life and allergy and asthma clinic. Here's what I do to assess somebody's pulmonary function tests, and here's what I do to help them. and how we make decisions on how to treat asthma and allergies was really fun. Cornerstone has kids from preschool all the way up until, you know, seniors in high school or year 12, grade 12, as they call it. Again, so intentional, so holistic in their care. From a nursing perspective. We got to meet with a school nurse who is just an incredible person, and she talked about how they do assessments on the kids every year. And then if a kid gets sick and needs to go to the hospital, then the nurse will take them to the hospital and the school will cover the cost of their care, which is just incredible because they know that a kiddo, who's s. Can't learn. Well, same thing with food. They provide nutritious food. They provide them two meals a day and several snacks a day, because they know that a kiddo who is malnourished isn't going to learn. And so it's just incredible, the intentionality that they have with these kids and really trying to empower them to be world changers in their communities, in their country, and then obviously in the world.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You're so right. The STEM fair was so much fun. And actually the teachers had to tell us, okay, you guys are actually going to have to leave because we can't get our students to leave. They want to stay. They want to see more. They had so many questions. They were so. Their minds were just on, fire with possibility. And that was a really beautiful thing to see. And really, there's so many opportunities that they have. They have a beautiful library. They have a technology room where they have access to the only computer that they may have. And it can be hard. One of our students said, Katy, it was really hard because as we went out to the community and saw their homes where they lived and then saw the opportunity there and thinking, like, why can't all the kids go there? But we know that God is using those kids who are getting the opportunities that they're getting to be world changers. And they are already making an impact on their community. They are making so much, so, much impact that it's a really beautiful thing.

Cornerstone Preparatory Academy partners with expectant moms all the way up until those babies are two

And when we come back, Katy, we're up against our second break here. I want to talk about the Mtoto program. That was a really unique, unique outreach program where, where Cornerstone Preparatory Academy partners with expectant moms all the way up until those babies are two, making home visits and providing some basic nourishment and some food. And honestly, that was probably one of the most moving experiences for me as we're going out on this road, which I'll use the word road very loosely because I think I have never driven a. On a road that was like that in my life. And then, you know, having to kind of climb down a ravine and then climb up a hill over a stream to get to this little house in the middle of really nowhere. But it was beautiful there. And there in the middle of nowhere, we had some equipment that the engineers had helped us with a Doppler. We are able to hear the heartbeat of a baby yet to be born. Made in God's image. That was really beautiful. Looking around, thinking, this home is covered in scriptures written on the walls of the home, and just seeing God is there in the midst he is at work. We'll have more with Dr. Katy Vogelaar when we come back. Talking about Naomi's village in Kenya,

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Live Out Loud by Steven Curtis Chapman: Imagine this. I get a phone call from Regis. It says, do you want to be a millionaire? They put me on the show and I went with two lifelines to spare and a picture this. I act like nothing ever happened. They bury all the money in a coffee can. Well, I've been given more than Regis ever gave away. I was a dead man who was called to come out of my grave and I think it's time for making some noise. Awake the neighbors get the word out Come on Crank out the music by the mountain and shout this is life we've been given Made to feel Live out loud

Dr. Jessica Peck: welcome back, friends. That is Live Out Loud by Steven Curtis Chapman. And I was so blessed to have him, M and Mary Beth on the show recently to talk about their new book talking about marriage. After that, I was able to go and meet them at a house concert. They do such a great work through Show Hope and we'll be talking about that a little bit more.

Dr. Katie Vogelaar went to Kenya with Baylor Nursing and Engineering teams

But we are talking about the word that I did, over the last two weeks. So for the last little over two weeks, I've actually been in Kenya with my dear friend and colleague, Dr. Katy Vogelaar. She is a family nurse practitioner and a clinical assistant professor at Baylor University. She was the leader of an interprofessional mission trip between Baylor Nursing and Baylor Engineering, where we went to a place called Naomi's Village in Maimahu, Kenya. And this is a, children's home. And out of that vision from the founders, Bob and Julie Mendonza, who is an orthopedic surgeon, his wife was a teacher. They felt God calling their hearts to really serve the Kenyan people. They founded Cornerstone Preparatory Academy, which is a school for preschool all the way through high school, grade 12 and, and really empowering. They're now empowering their first wave of young adults. Some of them are going to university. Some of them are just becoming leaders in their community. And I was really privileged to be able to go along on this trip. And we saw so many beautiful things. If you want to learn more about it, you can go to naomi's village.org and Katy, I said one of the things we were going to talk about, and by the way, in living out loud and talking about music, one of the fun things that happened while we were there is that we were there at the same time as the Baylor Jazz Band, who came to teach the kids about music, to give them music lessons, to learn about music from them and learn about African music. And we were also there with the Baylor Men's Choir. And there was something really powerful about gathering together all of those children in the school, all of our students singing praises to God together, praying and sharing the gospel, that all through our giftedness. That was definitely one of the standout moments for me and I think it was for you too.

Dr. Katy Vogelaar: Absolutely. That was a highlight. To have all the Baylor Bears that were in Kenya at the same time, the same place to sing the Baylor line was so special. And just to see the heart of our school and really our, you know, our pro mundo for the world. We want to be world changers. And to see us in Kenya together was really cool. And that men choir, men's choir is just incredible. Like that fangirling over here, seeing the men's choir.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Yeah, I had no idea until my daughters told me, like they're, they're viral, mom. They have more. I, I don't know if I should say it. They have more followers on social media than the football team. I'm sorry to all the football team members that are listening. You're great too. And we definitely want to cheer on all of the Baylor Bears, but one of the things that, that we did, we definitely were cheering on these moms who were in the Mtoto program. And Katy, that, that definitely was a highlight for me. I love, you know, now being in academics and, and all of the things that I do, I love when I'm able to go back to patients and just have those human interactions and, and just see those, those moms with those beautiful babies and so, and, and we really learned so much from Karen, the nurse who runs this Mtoto program. I feel like I was just walking around in her shadow all day, just soaking in all that. She had to teach me about being an extension of the hands and feet of hands, and feet of Jesus to the people, to the mother she was serving. So tell us a little bit about the Mtoto program.

Dr. Katy Vogelaar: The Mtoto program is very similar to, if anyone is familiar with the Nurse Family Partnership, which is a program in the United States that pairs nurses with at risk first time moms. So the Mtoto program means baby Mtoto Means baby in Swahili. and, it pairs a nurse. The nurse that is running the program now is called Karen. Like you mentioned, Karen is just a beautiful example of someone who uses her gifts to pour out and serve other people. And so she goes on house visits. They have, I think she said, about 35 moms currently in the program. She visits them twice a month. she brings them food, she does health education. But primarily she just develops a relationship with them in order to help, empower them to take care of themselves, to take care of their babies. And so what we got to do, like you mentioned and is traverse a ravine and a little flooded creek and get muddied and wet. And. And we, the most incredible thing is just the hospitality of the moms that we just welcomed us into our home, into their homes. there were, you know, 12 students because we brought some engineering students with us and you and I, you know, in these homes. And and at times they would stand up so we could sit on the, you know, the couch or. And we were like, no, you need to sit down. You know, you're pregnant or you have a young baby. And what we did was just fellowship with them. We asked them questions, we got to know who they were. And then, like you mentioned, got to do a little bit of an assessment on the mom, listen to her baby and get to describe to her, do you hear that? That's your baby. she had young siblings with her too. So to describe to the little siblings, like, this is your, this is that baby's heartbeat. And then we got to empower these moms through some education too. We, every time Karen goes, she goes with some sort of educational activity. This time we got to teach, about infant choking, what to do when a baby chokes. And so we brought, kind of a scary looking CPR mannequin that really freaked out Kenyan babies, and had, one of our students demonstrate it. And then the mom got to show what she learned, which is just really good teaching, a teach back method. And then, and then we got to just talk with the moms about the importance of, of early literacy and the goal of the MTOTO program. And the babies in there is that they would then go to the preschool that Cornerstone has. It's called Leap Preschool. Ah, we got to spend a morning there. And it was my favorite morning. Just surrounded by the most adorable three and four year olds, who we taught to wash their hands and brush their teeth. But the Golden Toto program is that the These babies, these, little, little kiddos would interleap, heads and shoulders above some of their peers in terms of early literacy. And so we, we talked to the moms just about the importance of reading to their babies and how impactful that is in early literacy development. We got to give them some books, some Bible story books to read to their babies. And it was really sweet to see many of them. We visited three moms in total, but the two that had infants out of the womb, like, really get into it and start to open up the book, point out, oh, yes, this is an animal or this is, ah, this color was really, really sweet to see it. Just incredible program again. I could talk all day long about what Mammy's Village and Cornerstone does. It's such an incredible picture of, of the church mobilized in order to serve and empower the local community.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, as I'm reliving all of these moments, I know as people are listening to the thought of going to Africa, you know, I think about, you know, Katy, my world was so small when I grew up. I mean, I think we only vacationed at places. I told you this, that ended in Burg, like Vicksburg, Fredericksburg. Like, I did not venture very far from where I had grown up. And I never grew up thinking, oh, I'll be one of those people who goes to Africa. But this opportunity came to me. And I think when you are thinking about traveling so far in a world that is so unstable and a world that frankly seems very unsafe, there's a lot of fear that can be involved, and there's a balance there. If you want to be smart, you know, you really want to, to be wise in what you do. But even in our everyday lives here, like, there is inherently risk. And I think about. We know when we got to Nairobi, people may have remembered a couple of weeks ago on the news, there were protests erupted, and those definitely did impact our trip, and we were never unsafe. But one of the things that really impacted me the most about this trip, Katy, was the faith of our students. And even when we were sitting in the Paris airport, we had an unexpected delay there. So our students get out their guitars and start filling the Paris airport with the praise of God. They start singing, and they are just singing praises and singing worship. And when we were delayed because of the protest, they get out the guitar, we start praising the Lord, we start praying together, praying over each other, praying for each other, praying with each other and singing praise in that. And I know you, you were just reminding me, Katy, that The last time that you were on, you said it was a bucket list for you to take your family on a mission trip. You're a mom of four, just like I am, and you have some littles and you did that. And so let's talk a little bit about that kind of balance of, faith and fear. Like, how do we do that wisely? And what was your experience like, you know, balancing those things to take your kids to serve with you?

Dr. Katy Vogelaar: Yeah, it's an interesting balance. one that is really just fought. The tension is fought through prayer and through asking the Lord for wisdom. if we, like, read our Bibles, a lot of the things that God asks people to do are not safe and not comfortable. And, and I just really felt that God was my husband. I felt that God was calling our family to. We went over spring break to the Dominican Republic on a medical mission trip. And, you know, there's a lot of things that'll scare you if you go on the CDC's website and look at the Dominican Republic or you look at Kenya and you think of all the diseases that you could get there that you couldn't get here. And, you know, you can't drink the water. You got to use the bottled water to brush your teeth. And what's going to happen if I get bottled water, you know, tap water in my, in my, you know, system? Just even from a health perspective as a provider, thinking about all the things that could go wrong. Not only that, but again, you go on the State Department and you read of all the things that could possibly go wrong, you know, in any foreign country. Those things happen in our country too. I think we're just a little bit naive to that in a lot of the areas that we live. And so, again, I just felt really strongly that the Lord was saying, go and I've got you and Jessica. He did that. On our trip. Like we, we could share story after story of how he kept our team safe, free from illness. For the most part. No one got any significant illness. Not that you and I couldn't treat with over the counter meds. Right. thankfully we got some nurses on the team. So, you know, the, the bumps and bruises were taken care of, just from the, the protests and strikes. Like you mentioned, we partnered with just this, an amazing organization and we were in contact with them, with Naomi's village the whole time. And they got us so safely. They were wise. Baylor Missions and Baylor Global Security were on our side helping us as well. And so we went with wisdom right we went with discernment. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared at times, whether I've been in Kenya, whether I've been in Haiti, whether I've been in the Dominican Republic. And in those times, I just have to rely on the Lord. Lord, you are my. My shelter you. You know, playing some of those psalms that David, says over and over to yourself, ourselves, like, he's got us, and boy, did he. And. And to talk about the faith that our students had. While they may have been scared during times in the trip, I never heard about it. And it's not because they weren't talking. They were talking to us a lot. But I'll remember. I'll never forget. I, mean, one time.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Yes.

Dr. Katy Vogelaar: Right after we were. We had all of our suitcases ready, we were ready to leave Nairobi. We get a call, so, sorry, we can't go. And I went over to one of our students, and I said, how are you doing? And she said, well, Dr. V, we're getting to experience what the Lord already knew. And so this is just. He already knew it. We're just experiencing it right now. And her faith, her peace really ministered to me, and that helped me throughout the entirety of our trip. Just anytime there was a hiccup, whether it was there or back home, when things were going on personally, just God knew. And I'm m experiencing what God already knew was going to happen, and he's got me, and he. He's keeping me safe.

Dr. Jessica Peck: That really became the anthem of our trip. Anytime anything happened, that's what we would say. We would look back at the students, say, yep, okay, here we are just experiencing what the Lord already knew. And that was such a beautiful moment of faith in there. There were things to, you know, to be afraid of. But honestly, Katy, I really. I did not feel any fear. I didn't. And I think sometimes, you know, when we're here in America, we can feel fear. We can feel fear. If somebody asked us to share our faith and we're standing in the grocery line of our, you know, of our normal community, and we think, oh, gosh, what do I say? But then you. You kind of have that retreat available, like, oh, I'm just gonna go back home and, you know, just step back into my life. I think stepping out in faith, it requires you to lean on the Lord in a way that you don't have that safety net here at home. You don't have those creature comforts, the normal, surroundings, and all of those things that you might have that you, you, that you, you don't have when you're stepping out in faith. And Katy, I just want to say it was just such a joy and a privilege to see you lead. To see these students whose hearts are on fire for the Lord to, to look at all of the leaders who are a part of Naomi's village and Cornerstone Preparatory Academy to see how they are praying for a work of God. They are praying that God will raise up a generation of leaders in Kenya and to be able to be witness of that and be a part of that and to have, have, you know, our children step into missions with us. It has been just a joy. We, we only, we have like 30 seconds. Do you want to say any last word?

Dr. Katy Vogelaar: I would just say if this conversation has prompted the Holy Spirit's prompting you to say yes, say yes. I, tell my students following Jesus is fun. It's not always safe, but it's fun. And getting to experience him in a different culture. Culture and with different people and see the work of the church all across the world is such a blessing. And so go. And I can't wait to hear about it.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Go. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. Thank you so much, Katy, for being obedient to the work of God in your life, for inviting me to witness that. It certainly strengthens my faith. And if you want to know more, naomisvillage.org maybe. May the Lord bless you and keep you. I will see you right back here tomorrow.

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Jeff Chamblee: opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.