Safely home

The travel team has arrived home safely and with all our luggage! Josephine and Peter will be getting on a plane in Nairobi today so continued prayers for their safety.

Prayers for travel

We would love prayers for traveling mercies and safety as we fly out in 11 hours.

Over the last several days we have had team debrief conversations in the midst of Kenya adventures, including a wonderful safari and an up-close encounter with baby elephant orphans.

Photo - John Lewis and three bishops

John Lewis - Kingdom Story Update

Some of you know that John Lewis has been doing 2 two-day Kingdom Story seminars for Kenyan/East african pastors. One seminar was in Meru. The second one is in Nairobi. Read below for John’s description of the Nairobi conference.

About 70 pastors and leaders showed up yesterday for the first day of the Nairobi KS 2 day conference. They hail from 6 or 7 neighboring counties; one person coming from 650 miles away, one bishop came from Rwanda. Several students at our host college also came from Sudan and Uganda. It cannot be easily overstated: it’s very special in Africa to have pastors from different denominations and regions meet together in one place, share their stories and their struggles, laugh and eat together. They are normally “tribal” and isolated.

The flow and impact of the first day mirrored the first conference; God is moving and laid the foundation yesterday for a great 2^nd day today. Here is a super fun story…

Some of you may know that KS hosted two Anglican bishops from southern Sudan to be transported and housed here in Nairobi for the conference. It’s a long way and finances for them are as you can imagine, tight.

Last night I had dinner with the two bishops and their spouses. What a delight, what men of passion and commitment who have suffered under Islamic persecution and persevered in their calling. And what eagerness they had to discuss the possibilities of making KS resources available to train young pastors in their two southern Sudan counties in the years ahead. The church has grown and practices evangelism diligently. Discipleship is another matter. The condition of the church is weak, and many members remain immature in their faith and lifestyle. This is not surprising when you also consider many of their pastors are young men without even a full high school education. And both bishops are convinced that the foundation for maturity includes a deep heart familiarity with God’s word. And they love the KS approach; they love story!

What also came out during dinner is that there are three counties that cover all of Southern Sudan for the Anglican Church, and each of these counties also has an ecumenical church group that brings together all the area pastors and denominations in the area for collaboration. The Anglican bishops are excited down the road to use their influence to share the KS resources with these pastors as well. They imagine our work with them going viral in south Sudan.

So what the third county’s bishop? He wasn’t invited to the conference, or present yesterday. But at dinner I added a little miracle to our collection: Peter, the bishop of the third county had phoned them. He was “just happening” to come into Nairobi tonight from Sudan to do an interview to get an out of country visa. Yes, he could join us for the 2^ndday of the conference! Moses and Abraham want us to all have lunch together to finalize the follow up plans for each of the bishops in their three countries for the year ahead! They are asking me to consider dong a training conference in each of the three counties of south Sudan in the year ahead.

Be encouraged.  God is on the move, and went ahead of me here. Thanks for your prayers and support…and know that the fields are white for the harvest, the pastors eager in this country. Our work to this point has prepared us well to be and serve here.

To God be the glory! 

 John

Photo - walking to Robert’s house

Monday - final day in Meru

Adahlia is a quick healer and has been feeling great since Monday night/Tuesday morning. Thanks for the prayers!

Monday began with a visit to John and Carissa’s sponsored child Robert. Hope guardian Amalia and her friend Susan are very invested in Robert’s life. They joined the team for the visit. (Side note: It becomes clearer and clearer that the Guardians invest much more money in these children than what we sponsors send in. They love these people like family and when they ask for food or another necessity, they find a bit of extra money from their own humble income to help. It’s really inspiring.) The vans parked on the side of a road and we walked a pretty long way down a trail/narrow dirt road. As we walked, kids silently emerged shyly waving at us and walking along with us. By the time we reached Robert’s house we probably had about a dozen kids there! Amalia informed us that these were all cousins to Robert and we were experiencing a true village. A family who has a piece of land and subdivided it between family members over the course of generations. They all live in community. When Carissa thanked the grandmother for taking care of Robert, Josephine quipped “It takes a village.” Suddenly that saying made perfect sense!

During the visit Carissa toured the home and got to know the grandmother better. I (Pam) had the village girls teach me their clapping games, which was a joy. Josephine translated the stories that go along with the rhythms, which were just as silly as my sing-song stories growing up. Darren pulled out his phone and we taught the children the cha cha slide and the hokey pokey. They were more than willing to give it a try. Sometimes we’d dance too close to the goats or run into the clothes line but it was all good.

As we said goodbye, the children escorted us all the way back to the road. Robert grinning up on John’s shoulders. Girls gripping both my hands. When our hands got sweaty they both let go and studied their hands. I think they expected the sweat to be white like my skin!

Josephine gave Crew Leader shirts to the children from the back of the van and we took off.

That afternoon we met with the Hope Board. This post is already long, so suffice it to say it was a bit of a love fest. They wanted to thank us for UPPC’s investment, and we wanted to thank them for their investment in the children. It was wonderful to hear personal accounts from them of kids lives being changed — graduates from the program who are able to support themselves so the next generation in their family will not be in the same desperate place financially. They fervently report that the program is changing, not just kids’ lives, but future generations. Praise God for this good work.

From Jason: Prayer Request & Reflections

Well, the Kenyan bugs finally made themselves known.  Our poor little Kanana (Adahlia) has been vomiting this morning and is dealing with other food poisoning symptoms.  Hopefully it passes quickly.   Emily and I have been attending her, and as she sleeps I thought I’d write you a couple thoughts.

I have loved getting to know the local Hope Guardians more.  They have hosted us in there homes and churches, and we’ve had them join us in many of our visits.  I’m so impressed by the quality of character and resourcefulness they show.   Here are a couple quick snapshots:

 Ibrahim is honored and respected and clearly the patriarch of an entire region.  He speaks with authority and grace at the same time.  He is humble in his ways-  eating lunch with a gaggle of preschoolers, clowning with his helmet at the ceremony,  getting down to help wash the hands of our children.    And he knows what he is about-   introducing himself as “the father of nations” and simply as a “farmer”, and taking time to greet each child at the seminar despite being the best dressed and most revered person there.  

Esther and Amalia are teachers with big big hearts for the students they serve.   And also so much more than that.  Esther is finishing a PhD in local inheritance laws and customs and their disenfranchising effects-  on top of being a women’s advocate on an international scale, and a loving  wife and mother.  

Beyond her teaching, Amalia has a sprawling set of enterprises with her husband (who himself is en route to a PhD in green supply chain).   Rental units, construction, farming.

Harun works for a giant tea company and spends his Sundays playing the keyboard for the rousing services at the village church we attended.  

It is fun to get to see these friends in their own environment.   We are blessed to be in this work together.  

We head to Elijah’s house tonight, and I’m excited to spend some more time with him. 

Sunday worship - photo

Sunday worship - photo

Sunday worship

We attended Peter’s childhood church this morning. It has a nice brick building now, which was not the case when Peter was a child. It even has a sound system and boy, was it blasting!! We waited in an anteroom for quite a while before filing into the front two rows. (Have I mentioned the Kenyans love their ceremonies?) We noticed the men sat on the right and the women sat on the left. Soon we were enjoying praise songs in the language of Meru. Then a men’s choir sang, swaying left to right with the music. Next the “young mamas” choirperformed, which includes beautiful singing and energetic hopping and dancing. Then unexpectedly we were summoned to perform “what we had prepared.” Thankfully I had thrown in our VBS song lyrics in the morning so we led them in two songs From Day Camp. I found it emotional to look out on all those precious faces as I sang, “Everything that you have made is beautiful. Oh my God, I can’t believe my eyes.” I was so overwhelmed by gratitude to be included in this little family of God in a rural village. I know the people’s lives are difficult, but you should see them fervently praying aloud all at the same time. They love the Lord with everything they have.

John Lewis delivered a wonderful sermon on offering all you have to the Lord (as with the loaves and fishes). Josephine was his right hand person, interpreting for those who didn’t understand English. Carissa was called on to pray for the sick and elderly.

For the offering, they placed a large container at the front and groups of people processed forward to put in their gifts. Men first, then women, then youth. Many people do not have cash to offer so they bring from their crops — corn (on the cob or dried), dried beans, yams, bananas, or green beans. I wondered what the church would do with the produce. I didn’t have to wonder for long. As soon as the offering song ended a woman began to auction off each item in turn. A teenage boy would take the produce to the winning bidder and bring their money back to the front to deposit in the container. What a beautiful demonstration of the sermon — bring what you have and let God multiply it. The generosity of the people is moving.

When church ended, we were invited to the grassy area out front where I had noticed women scrubbing white plastic chairs. We were asked to go first — washing hands, then grabbing a bag lunch: 4 slices of white bread, a still-warm hard-boiled egg, a whole banana, and a Fanta pop. While we sat in the plastic chairs, the congregants sat on sagging wooden benches completely segregated by gender. This was yet another incredible cultural experience, showing just how wonderfully diverse and beautiful is the family of God.

Seminar photo

Joyful opening worship - a lady from the back row began a call and response. Dancing began, and other women supported the leader with high pitched trills. The song lasted about 10 minutes. This song of worship was the most moving part of the day for Jason.

Seminar photo

Adahlia and her entourage of new friends! Front right is Winnie, sponsored by Dawn and Matt Phillips.

Ibrahim looking “smart”

Refer to Thursday’s post if you’re not sure what this picture is all about...

Saturday - Seminar day

WiFi isn’t letting me post a picture, but this was Seminar day! It was quite a crowd! Emily has been here for Seminar several times and said it was a great turnout. The Lewis’s got to meet their sponsored child, Robert. The Boshes got to connect with Patrick some more. The Wenz family got great time with both Ronny and Risper. At one point Ronny and Risper were playing with each other — mind blown!
The day started with tea (an unmovable tradition), then there were formal introductions of the Hope Board and the travel team.
Then there were a few mini-sermons and then the workshops. The kids session included a game where you catch a ball/say a memory verse or do a trick. Lewis got to do some back handsprings when it was his turn. The teens and young adults were together — about 70 young men and women sitting under trees. I (Pam) got to share a testimony about mentoring. The parents gathered in their group and shared testimonies about the transformational impact of Hope Trust/Cherish sponsorships on their life.
Next, everyone lined up to wash hands and partake in a delicious meal of “mashed food” (potatoes and bananas), spiced rice, stewed carrots and meat, and cooked cabbage.
Finally it was time to hand out the backpacks! The families listened so respectfully to hear about the UPPC Day Campers who bought the backpacks and made the stationery. Then again, they lined up really respectfully to receive their backpacks. It was so fun to say our fond farewells as families walked up the hill to head home, backpacks swinging along.

A day of joyful children

Thursday morning we drove the most rutted dirt roads imaginable to arrive at a rustic elementary school in the middle of lush forest. The students were at an end-of-year assembly on the sloping red dirt courtyard. Hundreds of staring eyes followed us as we walked in. After the assembly ended we visited classrooms and chatted with children drinking their porridge. Most exciting to the Kenyan children was stroking the hair of the white children. The headmaster joyfully received the soccer ball and playground ball we gave them before taking off.

We proceeded to another village school - Josephine’s primary school! We were greeted with beautifully dressed women singing “welcome!” in Swahili and dancing with us as we paraded in. We enjoyed the end of their assembly, then shared a snack of bread, boiled eggs, and Fanta pop. This school has the defending national champion baseball team! We ended our visit with a long-grass/steep-slope game of baseball between the Wenz/Bosh kids and the Kenyan ball players. Three catchers did their best to keep the ball from rolling way down the hill and out of sight!

Next we visited Dorothy— the teen (now young adult) who received a wheelchair from UPPC in 2010. She was so joyful to see everyone and the wheelchair still works great!

Next we did the groundbreaking party for Watoto Center! It is currently a sloping cornfield, but the Mburugus can already picture the three terraces of playground, community center, then garden/farm at the bottom. Emily poured the official groundbreaking glop of cement between heavy stones that will eventually support the gate to the Watoto Center. Just before the big moment, Josephine’s father Ibrahim donned an orange vest and hard hat, then looking over his shoulder, quipped, “How smart do I look?”

We proceeded to Ibrahim’s shamba for dinner, including a chicken slaughtered that morning. Everyone loved seeing the acre of fertile land, teeming with healthy crops, a few livestock, and several outbuildings with new friends perpetually pouring forth from them. All people that Ibrahim has embraced, helped, and loved like family. The kids played soccer with Ibrahim’s youngest friends for a long time, then the soccer ball stayed with the littlest friend - a boy of maybe 3 - who had giggled his way through the whole game.

Just two more stops. Are you tired yet?  Patrick’s house (the high school senior sponsored by Jason and Emily) and finally a joyful reunion between the Boshes and their hosts from 2005. They were chagrined we couldn’t stay for tea, but it’s safe to say we were all bushed! What an incredible day. In John Lewis’s words: “This is the stuff!”

Challenging wifi

We apologize for the super-brief posts. Our hotel’s WiFi functions about 10% of the time. Any post that sneaks through and successfully publishes is an answered prayer!

Wednesday - Drive to Meru

After a long journey we safely arrived in a Meru Wednesday evening! Esther, Elijah, and his wife Priscilla greeted us at the hotel. They are so joyful that we are here. The Wenz family had the opportunity to hop right back in the van and meet their sponsored child, an 18-year-old senior in high school. It was another fulfilled dream to be sharing arrow root and lots of conversation together in their humble living room. What a gift.

Nyumbani orphanage

Tuesday our team had the joy of visiting Nyumbani orphanage where 130 HIV+ orphans live and thrive under the nurturing of their house moms. A year-long dream for the boys on our trip was fulfilled — an epic soccer game with Kenyan kids. What a fun, competitive, cooperative game it was.

The picture shows John Lewis holding John, who was VERY excited to share the same first name with John.

Backpacks!

Emily and Josephine had a successful trip to purchase backpacks Monday! They kept their patience as the checker insisted on typing in the SKU for each and every backpack during the checkout process... 

While these two women were serving at the shopping center, the rest of the team enjoyed exploring Karura Forest.

Hotel snapshots

A few photos of Amani gardens Inn - our home for three nights!

Safe in Nairobi!

Pictures coming soon, but wanted to at least post briefly before we tuck in to our comfy beds at Amani Gardens.
All team members, all luggage, most of our sanity made it in one piece to our destination. God is good, all the time!

Takeoff!

Here we go!

First flight leaving now for Paris, then a 4 hour layover, then second flight to Nairobi.

One specific prayer request that came up when we gathered this morning before heading to the airport: the Lewis family’s dog, Max was acting very sick this morning. Please lift up John and Carissa as they leave with uncertainty about Max’s health, and lift up the Lewis kids who are taking him to the vet to find out what is wrong.

Adahlia Bosh: Prayer Requests

Hi, my name is Adahlia Bosh, I am 9 years old, and I have a Kenyan name, Kanana.  Kanana means “one who is loved and adored” in Kimeru.

We will need all the prayers we can get while we’re in Kenya. Please pray for the following:

·        Safety on planes and on vans

·        For clear weather, especially on seminar day (forecasts say rain and maybe even thunderstorms)

·        For the seminar to go as planned

Thank you, everyone!

Gideon Bosh: My Top 7

Hi, my name is Gideon. I am 7 years old. These are some things that I am excited about for our Kenya trip:

•           Playing basketball with Gideon, a Kenyan friend that I am named after.
•           The seminar.
•           Seeing Gitonga, Josephine’s dad, and his chickens.
•           Play soccer (they call it football).
•           Being on the equator.
•       Seeing giraffes and baby elephants.

Lewis Wenz

Hi, my name is Lewis and I'm 9 years old. This is my first time going to Kenya. This is going to be the longest I have been on an airplane. I am excited to play soccer with the kids in Kenya. As a family we read Sharon Moffitt’s book, “A Day of Small Things,” and I feel like it helped me get ready for the trip. From the book I learned that many kids don’t have the money to attend school all the way through high school. I also learned that HIV is one of the sicknesses causing sadness in Kenya. Kenyans have a folk tale about an ogre that eats a small part of a little girl each day because her grandma is not able to protect her. The grandma has to go get food so they won’t starve. This folk tale shows that the grandmother had to choose between protecting her granddaughter from an ogre, and collecting food to survive. If I were the grandmother, I would be mad because my granddaughter didn’t follow my directions to stay inside. I wonder if our sponsored child has heard this folk tale before. I’m excited for Kenya!

Final Team Meeting -- A Packing Party!

Adahlia, Lewis, and Pam filling a suitcase July 22

Do you see those stacks of large envelopes going into a suitcase? Those are filled with hand-made stationery each sponsored child will receive at Seminar -- inside their brand new backpack! The UPPC Day Campers made each stationery page with care. One stack is for younger kids, and the other is for older kids. The vision is that this stationery will eventually make its way back to the U.S. in the form of letters to their sponsors. 

At the Packing Party we filled 8 donated suitcases with clothing, toys, shoes, stationery, medical supplies, and other useful items we will be leaving in Kenya. Even the suitcases will be given away!

Here's how we ended our night together:

The next time we are all together, we will be heading to the airport with 24 suitcases and 12 carry-ons!

Ryan Wenz

Hi my name is Ryan and I am 11 almost 12 years old. I turn twelve on the day we leave for Kenya. This is the first time I am going out of the continent. I am excited to go to Kenya to play soccer with the kids and see the love of Jesus there. We are going to a seminar and hopefully all 180 of the sponsored children will be there. I am not looking forward to 17 hours on a plane.

Caleb Wenz

Hi my name is Caleb and I am 14 years old. This will be my first time going to Kenya and out of the continent. I am very excited to go on this trip. I’m excited to do the seminar and meet our family's sponsored kids. We have gotten many amazing letters from sponsored kids and are dying to meet them. Also, I am excited for the seminar because I will be playing soccer with the kids and teaching VBS songs to the kids. When we are in Nairobi I am excited to go to the giraffe sanctuary and Karura forest. In the giraffe sanctuary you are at the giraffes’ level and can feed them. In Karura forest we will ride bikes and look for wildlife. I know this trip is going to be an amazing experience and very inspirational.

Lincoln Bosh: Mwenda

Hi, my name is Lincoln. I am 11 years old. This will be my first time going to Kenya. I have a Kenyan name, Mwenda. It means ‘one who loves’. I am excited to go on the trip because I will get to meet so many new people. I am also excited to see the elephant orphanage with the baby elephants. We are also going to have a seminar with all the sponsored kids. We will give some of them soccer balls, and I hope that we play a game! We will be staying at Amani Gardens Inn. This is different because on all the other mission trips, the team stayed in the Methodist Guest House. I am going with 13 other people, including my best friend Ryan.

Darren Wenz: It's about relationships

Our Kenya team has been meeting every two weeks for the last four months and I have enjoyed the opportunity this has given our family to get to know our fellow mission team members better, pray about the trip, and to consider the purpose the Lord has for us on this trip.  This trip perplexes some who want to know what the tangible results will be of the trip.  We aren’t building homes, digging a well or providing any physical improvements to the area.  If this trip were all about building I think the Lord would be sending someone besides me.

I have learned one of the best ways to describe this trip is relational.  Some people might read this and think that visiting Meru is just a chance to see Africa and for our family to learn about a different culture.  That opportunity is undeniable, but if you were to attend one of our mission team meetings I feel confident you would get the sense the Lord is providing more than that for this trip. 

I spent a year in Australia after college and I can still remember an older couple in the city of Kilmore where I worked who introduced themselves to me when I visited their church. They became my church community and truly gave me the best glimpse into the magnitude of the Lord’s capital C church.  The relationships we have with our two sponsored children, Ronny and Risper have helped our family consider the larger world and the work God is doing. Our relationships with Ronny and Risper have grown over the years.   I imagine many who have been sponsoring children at UPPC can relate to this experience.  The opportunity to be able to visit them, I pray, will give our family along with our sponsored children a chance to get a better understanding of the size of the Lord’s sovereignty.  We can read about the heights and depth of God’s love but to see it and experience it in such a unique way is something I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of.

There will surely be difficulties along the way. You don’t travel thousands of miles with 5 children and 1 teenager, let alone 8 adults, without some challenges.   Even with all the preparations and meetings we have been a part of, I still wonder if we are prepared.   With the trip less than three weeks away I pray you will join me in praying for the Lord to have our hearts, minds, and bodies where we need to be as we leave on July 28^th.  I look forward to returning and sharing with our church community greetings from our brothers and sister in Meru!

Jason Bosh: Why We Go

This weekend I went backpacking with my son in the wilds of the Olympic Peninsula. One of our self-determined "assignments" was to spend an hour in silence just noticing the nature around us with our journals in hand. As I basked in the evergreen forest and the therapy of the river sounds, I was thinking about our holy-smokes-its-almost-here Kenya trip and reminding myself why we are going. It's not because of the natural wonders-- clearly we have plenty of that right around here. It's not because of the comfortable accommodations or great food or high entertainment value.

No, there are other reasons that hold longer-term value. We are going because God gave my wife a heart for Africa when she studied there 20 years ago and to not go would be to deny her an important piece of herself. We are going because of the people. We met particular people (the Mburugus) who have a particular calling that is tied to a particular place (Meru). Emily and I saw the powerful nature of their calling in 2005 when we went with them to Meru, and we have wanted to support them ever since. Across many years and many miles we've built relationships with the Meru guardians. Em has been to Kenya several times, and we even hosted them in our home when they visited us in Tacoma several years ago. Facebook keeps us up to date even continents apart, but it's no substitute for sharing a song from the heart or a cup of tea. In short, we are going to further our relationships with people we care about and to show them that we stand with them in the important work they are doing for the kids of Meru.

It's also true that we are going as a family to experience how another culture works and to open our eyes and hearts to a different way of life-- a way that has both pros and cons when compared to our Tacoma world. We'll get a chance to show that way of life to our kids and give them a new and powerful reference point for growing up here in Washington.

There are other reasons, of course, but these are the top ones for me, and I'm excited/nervous that it's only a few weeks away. We appreciate your prayers as we make our final preparations!

John Lewis: We All Need Each Other

As part of our team’s June preparation for Meru, we did a fun group exercise. An obstacle course was laid out at the Bosh’s house: from the upstairs family room, down the stairs and out the back door, under the picnic table, across the lawn, up the steps and touch the basketball hoop. Everyone had to complete it. Each person however was given some form of limitation: not being able to walk, only able to walk on one foot, not able to speak, not able to use your arms. Each limitation was known only to the affected person until the exercise started.

When I said “go,” some of those who were able and focused on the end goal quickly bounded down the stairs, out of sight from those unable to move well or at all. The minutes that followed unfolded the drama of how each person finally did get to the finish line. Gideon Bosh, unable to walk, was last to get there; it took 3 others with limitations of their own, to get him down the stairs, under the table and up the final steps (see photo).

When we debriefed together in the family room, it became apparent that this had not been a traditional race where the gun went off and we all got to the finish line by ourselves. We needed each other. God did not intend us to have all the gifts needed to operate independently. In real life, as in the body of Christ, our limits come from our identity and the specific roles we play. And we have more fun as a result, more memories, more trust and appreciation of each other.

And so as we go to Kenya, we first of all go as a UPPC team. The functions of treasurer, devotions, prayer, bug spray point person and others have all been distributed based on people’s interests and gifts. We will need each other as we are stretched in this coming experience. Christ will work through us and come to us through the bodies of our teammates.

And I believe it will become clearer and clearer, each day of the trip, how in a larger sense, each country and culture has its own special place, its own limits. We have already tasted how much Peter and Josephine bring so much knowledge, history and wisdom of Kenya culture. Being immersed with their friends and other new relationships, seeing their faith and courage in a life of hardship, will open our eyes to our own limits and help us appreciate the treasured gift of their culture. Americans and Kenyans, Germans and Koreans, we all need each other to be a church “team” that reaches all the world’s people well.

And so our team will go soon. Together we are a reflection of Christ’s body. As the trip progresses, I look forward to using God’s gifts in me and seeing God’s gifts in others. We are now better prepared to not be surprised that we need each other and Christ himself, who is the head of our team, the head of His body, the church, local and worldwide.

Pam Wenz: Unity out of diversity

Over the last year preparing to travel to Kenya, one of my questions has been whether I'll have enough common ground with the Kenyans to feel a real connection with them. When I meet the grandmother/guardian of our sponsored boy, will we have much to talk about? Our family spends a whole lot of time playing, watching, thinking about, and talking about sports. I can imagine that when you are working hard to have the basic necessities of life -- food, water, safety, shelter -- sports might seem superfluous. Maybe even a shallow pastime.

Mike Moffitt's sermons on how the Holy Spirit brings unity out of diversity have been encouraging. He even described becoming friends with someone at a conference with whom he had nothing in common except Jesus. Yet when they were closing their experience with prayer, his new friend not only held hands with him, but interlaced fingers! What an intimate expression of friendship as they began to speak to God together. With the Kenyans, I want to trust that Jesus will be enough to connect us in a meaningful way. I guess if you're going to only have one thing in common with a new friend, God is a pretty great option! He is a Heavenly Father that makes us brothers and sisters in a deep way, even an eternal way.

May the closeness that only Jesus can create be formed quickly and meaningfully between the UPPC team and our new friends from Meru.

Who is traveling?

2018 Cherish Trip Travelers:

The Bosh Family- (R to L) Emily, Lincoln, Gideon, Jason, Adahlia

The Lewises- Carissa & John

The Mburugus- Josephine & Peter

The Wenz Family- (R to L) Pam, Caleb, Lewis, Ryan, Darren

What is this trip to Meru all about?

A recap from the Bosh Family's support letter:

A group of 14 from University Place Presbyterian Church (UPPC) will be traveling to Meru, Kenya (in East Africa), July 28-August 13, 2018. This trip will be the sixth of its kind – the last was in 2014 -- as the church has been building relationships in Meru for over 15 years now. 

The UPPC Kenya Team manages the sponsorship of needy children in Meru through a ministry called Cherish Ministry to Meru.  Cherish partners with a Kenyan non-profit organization, Hope International Ministry Trust.  The six volunteer board members of Hope International Ministry Trust (we call them Hope Guardians) administer sponsorships and relay news to us about sponsored children.  Our ministry has grown to almost 200 children sponsored by folks here in the U.S.

As always, we plan to use this summer’s Meru mission trip to facilitate relationships between our church and Hope International Ministry Trust and to create additional connection between sponsors and the children we support.  There are families with children traveling this time, ranging in ages from 7 to 13, and we are especially hoping to foster relationship-building between American and Kenyan kids.  We plan to visit as many of the sponsored children and families as possible, assist with a seminar for them, and hold meetings with the Hope Guardians.  All of this in only two weeks!

We would appreciate your prayers as we prepare to travel, and as our team ministers to and with the people of Meru.  If you feel called to commit to praying for us and our team, let us know by emailing Emily at emilybosh@yahoo.com.

If you’d like to support the trip financially, please go to www.cherishmeru.org and go to the Mission Trip 2018 tab.  

Specific prayer requests and notes from different travelers coming soon...