Faith in Action: Missionary Family
by Sherri Jackson
CBS 42 News
2007-11-28 17:22:44.0
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Ben and Jenny Roberts are raising their three sons at Tenwek Missionary Hospital in Africa. While I was on assignment in Bomet, Kenya, I spent time with this surgeon to see what it's like to raise a family in the mission field.
His faith fanned the flames of been Robert’s passion to do mission work long before the doors opened for him to come to Kenya as a mission worker at Tenwek Hospital. When I met Ben and his wife Jenny in Bomet, I was surprised to learn that they both had separate desires to do mission work as children.
“Seeds were planted in our hearts years ago to do something like this," said Ben.
"In high school the lord really used other missionaries to come to our church to prompt me into missions," said Jenny.
The two met while Ben was in medical school at UAB’s Callahan Eye Foundation and were married in 1998. That's when they came to Tenwek on a short term mission trip and got a glimpse of life in the mission field.
"After coming here seeing the aspects of life here in community I felt like this would be a very wonderful place to serve as a family together," said Jenny.
And that's what The Roberts do as a family. There’s five-year-old Luke, three-year-old Isaac, who is just a little shy, and one-year-old Nate, who is simply as cute as he can be. They make up the other part of the Roberts mission family.
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While dad spends his day 100 yards from home in the eye ward performing surgeries all day long, Jenny and the boys do school work. Luke is learning to read while Isaac and Nate are doing what three and one year olds do: discover the world around them. Except they are doing it in Kenya where they are learning about another culture and seeing how a family can serve others and serve god at the same time.
"They are seeing real church needs. There is no facade to keep them from seeing the women who come to my door who are hungry," said Jenny.
The boy's do get a chance to just be kids, playing with children in other families on the grounds at Tenwek gives The Roberts family a sense of community that you would find in the U.S. with some exceptions.
“There's no Wal-Mart around the corner,” said Jenny.
However there are friends nearby. Like fellow mission worker Carol Spears who went to UAB with Ben. Neither knew they would end up at Tenwek Hospital doing mission work together. They share meals at each other's homes and share a journey doing medical mission work.
That type of fellowship makes it more bearable to be away from family especially during the holidays.
“That is one of the toughest things. You are many, many miles from family and we don't get to see them,” said Ben.
This couple will tell you compared to what they do get to see, being a missionary family is worth it.
"Another advantage is just to see what the lord is doing worldwide," said Jenny.
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself that we are actually living here, living out this life we are very thankful for being here and thankful for those who enable us to be here," said Ben.
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