In July of last year, I had the privilege of meeting a professor from Uganda while in Iowa. He is a professor of economics at Makerere University in Kampala. We had an discussion of what can be done to develop a stronger economy in Eastern Uganda and Western Kenya, and what we might do together to help train young men and women for business.

In November of 2017, I was invited by Professor Ben to meet him at his village. He actually met me at the border, and hosted me well in Mbale and in his village. I met his sister, his father, his aunt and many extended family members. I saw first hand the challenges his village faces - which are similar to those in our village in Western Kenya.

Saturday, he arranged for me to talk to an Awana Bible Club that meets in his village every Saturday morning. When we arrived, I was so surprised to find over 300 children from the village attending the Bible Classes! I spoke to all the children together at first, then met with the older young people and had a good dialogue with them. When the class was over, we met in the yard for a Bible game, then went to the pastor's home where we fed all 300 children a meal of Ugali, Beans, Rice and beef. It was such a blessing!

Sunday I spoke to a local church, then in the afternoon spoke to a group of local pastors about some of the challenges they face. We discussed the need for training young men and women

​TRAVEL BLOG
The summer of 2016 has been amazing! We arrived in the United States the latter part of May. We began our ministry in the US with our home church, Destiny Church of San Diego. From San Diego, we traveled to Iowa, where we settled into our family cottage where we based ourselves for the summer. The first week of June, we spent time with my dad, celebrating his 92nd birthday with the family. After our family gathering, we visited one of our supporting churches in Ottumwa, IA.
We were scheduled for the full month of June, but two of our engagements had to cancel. It was really the Holy Spirit, as we needed a couple of weeks of relaxing and working around our cottage. It was such a great two weeks as well!
In July, we ministered at a supporting church in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It was such a great experience to share with this congregation, and connect with their Mission’s Director. We didn’t stay but one night in Green Bay, as we needed to be back in Iowa for the 4th of July Celebration!
The third week of June, we traveled to Fort Wayne, Indiana. On the way, we connected with a great church in Lena, Illinois, and visited family in the Chicago area. In Fort Wayne, we shared at a Missionary Baptist Church, and at Latter Rain Ministries. These churches were such great hosts, and we were so blessed to share what God is doing in Kenya!
From Fort Wayne, we visited Donna’s sister in Galena, Illinois, and from there attended the wedding of my nephew in Des Moines, Iowa. That fourth Sunday, we shared at the Faith Christian Fellowship of Elkhart, Iowa. This was the very first FCF church we attended in the early 80’s. It was here we knew we had found our church organization – Faith Christian Fellowship Church International. We had not been back to this church since the 80’s, so it was very special to us. The pastors are great people, sharing the unconditional love of God in the Elkhart area.
The last Sunday in July we shared at a church in Waterloo, Iowa; Waterloo Worship Center. What a great church! This had such meaning to me as well. I grew up in Waterloo, and it was the prayer and hope of my dad, who was a pastor there in the 60’s and 70’s to have a church that would be fully integrated! And Waterloo Worship Center is just that! My brother from Des Moines came up for the service as well…and we had such a great time of fellowship!
The first week of August, we attended the Cedar Falls Bible Conference. We used to attend this conference every year. The memories just flooded our minds as we heard good preaching and had great fellowship.
The first Sunday of August found us in Dayton, Ohio with good friends. We attended a Vineyard church downtown Dayton, and the congregation received us so well. They even called us up and many came to pray over us! It was such a great blessing!
That next week found us at the FCF East Coast Leadership Summit in Pigeon Forge, TN. We were a part of the Mission’s Retreat following the two day summit. The pastor and congregation in Pigeon Forge received us so well, and made us feel so special! From Pigeon Forge, we visited the Red Bird Mission for a day in Beverly, Kentucky. My grandmother helped establish this mission in the 1920’s, and she went with us when we were children to visit. It was such a great adventure and enriching experience.
From Kentucky, we went back to Des Moines, Iowa to visit my family, and then back to Cedar Falls to close up our cottage for the winter.  From Iowa we headed to Oklahoma, and points west. We had our first engagement at Salvation Church in Muskogee, OK. We had anticipated a leisurely drive to Oklahoma, but were involved in a slight accident which caused us to have to return to Des Moines to return our rental car and get a new one. After a five hour delay, we were back on the road, and made it to our service only 45 minutes late – but just in time to share! Salvation Church is a dynamic Hispanic Grace church in Muskogee. The pastors are such loving people, and always make us feel so welcome!
That Wednesday, we shared at Faith Christian Fellowship in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. FCFBA is a supporting church of ours, and we enjoy being with them every year! Pastors Chuck and Connie Coggins have been prayer partners with Donna and I for over 25 years, and we value our time together!
From Broken Arrow, we visited some good friends in western Oklahoma, then on the way to New Mexico stopped in Amarillo, TX to visit an old high school friend of mine. We ended August with Faith Christian Fellowship of Gallup, NM.  FCF of Gallup is also a supporting church, and we enjoy the times of fellowship and sharing with them.
From Gallup, we decided to take a few days to get to Oregon. We stopped to see the Grand Canyon, then drove through the Sequoia National Park. These diversions showed us again the glorious grandness of our God! What beautiful places to see! Donna said as we were looking over the Grand Canyon, “How can anyone not see God in this?” Certainly the earth declares the wonder and glory of God.
We spent a couple of days in Redding, CA with an intercessor and friend; and had a great time of fellowship and connection with her and her family. We had planned to drive through the Redwood Forest on our way to Oregon, but decided to postpone that drive for a week, and drive straight to Oregon. The first Sunday of September found us at Restoration Worship Center in Bandon, Oregon. Pastors Dan and Mary have visited our mission in Kenya, and been such a great support of what we are doing.  We were so blessed to be with this church over Labor Day – and doubly blessed because they put us up in a hotel right on the beach! It was a great time of ministry, and a great time of relaxation.
From Bandon, we headed to Delta, Utah to share at Faith Christian Fellowship of Delta. Pastor Kathy Mincer is a great friend, and this church is a supporting church of our ministry. We spent six glorious days with them! In addition to sharing at the church, we shared at the Utah State Prison in Gunnison, Utah on two different days. It was a great time!
From Delta, we traveled West Covina, CA for an FCF Minister’s lunch, and to share at Lost and Found Ministries in San Bernardino, CA. We were so blessed to have our daughter come up from San Diego to spend the weekend with us, and were also blessed to see one of our former church members and “daughter” in the faith who we had not seen for many years! The pastor’s lunch was so nice, and we were able to connect with a few ministries in the Los Angeles area. Sunday’s ministry at Lost and Found was also powerful!
From San Bernardino, we went to our home in San Diego for a couple of days before heading to Cambria, California. We spent the last Sunday in September with Living Waters Fellowship in Cambria. This is an FCF Church, which is also a supporting church of our ministry. We spent a few days in Cambria, and stayed within hearing distance of the beach – and were lulled to sleep nightly with the waves! We had a great time in fellowship with the church and the pastor! An added bonus, a member of the church treated us to a tour of Hearst Castle!
From Cambria, we traveled to Pueblo, Colorado. We stayed with a good friend, who I taught in Bible School back in the late 80’s. It was so good to connect again with them. The first Sunday of October we were at Faith Christian Fellowship of Pueblo, Pastor’s Joe and Elaine Borrego. We have been in relationship with these pastors since the late 80’s as well…and really enjoyed our time of fellowship and ministry with them. An added bonus, we were able to see another young lady who was a part of our church in San Diego.  We were also able to have lunch with an old friend, who’s mother rented us a house in Rye, Colorado when we lived there from 1984 to 1987.
From Pueblo, we spent a week at the Andrew Wommack Ministries Minister’s Conference. We were able to enjoy great teaching, and connect with so many pastors and ministers from around the world!
The second Sunday in October we shared at Faith Christian Fellowship of Trinidad, Colorado. We have known Pastors Bill and Sharon Frashuer since the mid-80’s, and enjoy our time of fellowship with them. Another added bonus was seeing former members of our FCF Church in Colorado City, Scott and Cindy Swartwood.
From Trinidad, we spent one night in Albuquerque, NM with classmates from Rhema, Mike and Sheri Schaefer. Sheri gave us a copy of her new book, “Ten Minutes to Live,” telling the story of Mike’s accident that nearly took his life in the early 2000’s. Donna read me the book as we drove from Albuquerque to Flagstaff! It was such a great inspiration! (We highly recommend this book – you can get it on Amazon.com.)
The third Sunday in October found us at Latter Rain Ministries in Imperial Beach, CA, as guests of Bishop Reginald Blackmon. Latter Rain Ministries has invited us to be a part of their ministry, and wants us to be supporting ministries to our ministry. We are excited to see open doors that help us share the unconditional love of God in Kenya!
That following week, we traveled to Tucson, Arizona, where we were honored to minister at Faith Community Church, East – Dr. Louise Brock. Pastor Louise (mom to us) has been our pastor since we moved to California in 1987. We spent two years in Tucson under her ministry. Dr. Brock really ministers the uncompromised Word of God.  We know so many people in the church on a personal level, and really feel like we have “come home” when we visit. In addition to sharing at her church, we had our annual breakfast with Louise at the Cracker Barrel, where we were able to share vision, and receive from her wisdom.
The next two days, we attended the FCF Far West Leadership Summit at the FCF of Tucson church. What a joy to connect with many pastors and leaders of FCF we have known for so many years! The two days were packed with great ministry and teaching. The highlight for us was a word given by Dr. Pat Harrison over our lives – confirming our call and ministry in East Africa!   It was truly one of the highlights of our visit to the United States.
From Tucson, we have returned to San Diego. The fourth Sunday of October found us back at our home church, Destiny Church of San Diego, where we ordained two young men into ministry at the church! What an honor to lay hands on these young men, anointed by God for the ministry they are doing!
We have had an eventful summer. We have driven nearly 22,000 miles, visiting 16 different states. We are tired of travel, and looking forward to our final “trip” home to Kenya! Thank you for all you do helping us fulfill God’s call to share His unconditional love in East Africa!

2015 has arrived! We spent the New Year in Tucson, AZ with Faith Community Church, and with Goshen Ministries there.  When we came out of the service at Goshen Ministries New Year’s Eve, we had an inch of snow on our car! IN TUCSON! But the spirit of God was so present at our meetings there.

As we were driving to one of our appointments, we started to talk a little about what God spoke to us about in 2014, and what we saw fulfilled. We felt at the beginning of 2014 that God said that 2014 would be a year of breakthrough for us and our ministry. Maybe we are alone in this, but so often we take a quick look back and we don't see what we feel the fulfillment of God's Word should bring. So, as we were driving, Donna said, “Where was our breakthrough in 2014?"

Her question was not one of doubt or unbelief - it was a simple, honest question. "Did we see our breakthrough in 2014?" So, we started to talk about what we DID see in 2014. 

First, we successfully fulfilled a full year of ministry together - for the first time since the mid-80's. This was a major breakthrough for us. For so many years, we could never really imagine us being together, traveling together, sharing the Gospel together, and working together on the Mission Field until "the ministry was really established." Yet, 2014 was our year of breakthrough in that area.

Secondly, we were able to set St. James Ematsayi Medical Clinic on a path to self-sufficiency! Our staff is in unity, and the clinic is flourishing. Since July, the clinic has been able to fully supply the medications and supplies...and we are so pleased with their hard work and success.

Thirdly, we were able to see 30 persons finish their course of study with Grace & Faith International Bible School. And the final session of 2014 we successfully done without our presence! Four of our fourth year students stepped up to teach in our level one through three areas. 

In 2014, Donna and I traveled over 40,000 miles in the United States, sharing and connecting. We were able to establish relationships with so many new people, and were able to renew relationship with so many others. In 2014, we increased our base of support, and increased our prayer and intercessory base as well.

In our short time in Kenya this year, we saw people commit their lives to Jesus Christ, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and come to an understanding of their true identity in Christ.  In the every city and home in the US this year, we saw people dedicate their lives to sharing the Gospel abroad - either in person, or by sending. We saw an awaking of many to the truth of God's Word and God's Power. And, in 2014, personally we have been developed more in the likeness of Jesus Christ. 

Yes - we saw breakthrough in 2014! And now we are looking forward to 2015. The first sunday of January, a Word was spoken over us at Faith Community Church East. A portion of that word to us said, "And though you think you have had a harvest, the Lord says unto you, the harvest has just begun...for what you have seen is nothing compared to what the harvest is going to be this year and next year also...for I have put no time on it and I have put no season except it is about to take place." We are excited as we prepare to return to Kenya this year. We will be there for a short season in the Spring, but return at the end of summer for an indefinite stay. We  totally expect to see a great harvest in 2015!

Remember, God never gives us a vision we can accomplish alone. But together we really DO make the difference
THANK YOU for making a difference!

This summer has been quite the adventure. In the beginning of 2014, Donna and I took a road trip from San Diego to Iowa for the first time since the late 80's! I was always nervous about driving across country with an older car - until I drove in Kenya! Now, we have much more courage. 

When we arrived in the US in May,we only spent two days in San Diego before taking a road trip to the Midwest. We drove 27 hours straight to arrive in Broken Arrow, OK in time for our first speaking engagement - two hours after our arrival! Thank God our daughter, Kierstien, was along to help with the driving!

From Oklahoma, we spent time in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arizona. We finally got home to San Diego the 12th of July - our 40th wedding anniversary! 

We then traveled to Cambria, California and spent four days on the Central Coast! What a beautiful place! The ministry was also glorious! 

Now we are starting our second trip to the Midwest tomorrow, heading for Arizona, Oklahoma, and who knows from there! After all the traveling, I can say I am looking forward to going back home to Kenya! But it has been a great adventure!

In this blog, I wanted to share about our travels in the US earlier this year, and catch everyone up on our travels in Kenya.

In December, Donna and I had planned to return to the US for Christmas with our daughter. I knew we would be home for a few weeks, and asked the Lord for a plan so we wouldn’t just sit around the house for a few weeks waiting to come back to Kenya. The thought of doing “A Kenya Coffee with the Pfaltzgraff’s” came to my mind.  So we made a couple of contacts to see if there would be an interest.

There was an interest, and we started a travel adventure that lasted the full time we were in the US. We were so blessed – we drove over 11,500 miles from December 30th to the end of February! We met with partners, friends and family in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois! We are so grateful for the opportunities we had to share the word, and share our vision!

The end of May, we return to the United States for two months! If you would like to host a small coffee or tea and allow us to share a couple of videos and a bit about our mission, please let me know! We will be in the Midwest as from 28th May through end of June – and on the West Coast from 1st July to 1st of August. These Coffee’s are not meant to be fund-raisers – just an attempt to help people become aware of what God is doing through Grace & Faith Family Ministries International! Please contact us – Revpeterp@gffmi.org – to set up a time to get together! 


Thank you for standing with us in ministry! Together we really DO make the difference!

Living in Kenya is an adventure! We arrived on August 22, not sure what we would find at the Nairobi International Airport. Earlier in September, the International Arrivals terminal had burned! But we were so pleasantly surprised to go through immigration and customs with no issues. The first day we arrived, we needed to attend to some issues with our vehicle – so we had to find new tires, have a couple of cables replaced (the speedometer cable and the fuel gauge cable), and had to have the clutch adjusted. Unfortunately, while we were out of the country, the back doors quit opening – and one of the outside rear-view mirrors was damaged. We had everything pretty much in working order by Saturday afternoon, and headed for Narok! We spent our first weekend ministering among the Masai in the Narok area. What a blessing they were to us as well! Monday morning, we headed for our home in Kakamega. Let me say, the roads to Kakamega are horrid! Words cannot express how bad they are! What should have taken us only about 5 hours to travel took us nearly 8 hours! But we finally arrived, and began to get settled.

I have become accustomed to finding surprises (some not too pleasant) when we first arrive. This trip was no exception! We were so grateful to see that our ceiling had been fixed and replaced. However, in the course of replacing the ceiling, the electricity was terribly disrupted, and we had no lights in our bedroom, nor in our dining room! So, we were trying to unpack our belonging in the dark – with only the flickering light of a burning candle! By the next day, an electrician had come and repaired the broken lights – and we were back in business!

One morning, shortly after our arrival in Kakamega, Donna was taking a shower and there was a fire in the bathroom! I was getting ready to open the house, when I heard her screaming “fire! Fire! Fire!” I ran to see the wire that connects to our shower head had caught fire along the wall – so I switched off the electricity in the bathroom, and put out the fire. A quick call to the electrician got the problem repaired – we needed to re-wire the area – and the shower was working once again!

The next morning, however, the shower did not produce any water! We had the tank filled, but it would be empty within a few hours! We could find no leaks or problems in the pipes…but obviously there was a leak somewhere! Finally, Donna found the leak, and we knew we needed to replace a part on our toilet. It took us three days to find that part! So for three days, we had no water in our house! What a joy! When the part was finally found and the toilet was fixed, we were so excited to take a shower again – but the water did not flow into the shower! So, we had to find a plumber to come and fix our pipes! An exciting report from this is that after we repaired the toilet and the pipes coming to the house, we have only had to have our tank filled very five days instead of every-other day! We are very happy with this development as it will keep our expenses a bit lower.

You can see there are great challenges living in the bush of Western Kenya! But all in all, we are so excited and count it such an honor to be here, living our dream of teaching all nations! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!

This morning, I was up at 5AM - not unusual for me the first few days back in the United States. It was such a good trip home from Kenya - we saw the favor of God in so many ways.

We arrived in Detroit about 1:15 December 24. We thought we might see snow, but there was none in Detroit. God had given us such favor for our last flight home, as we were upgraded to first class from Detroit to San Diego. Our flight started at 3:45 Monday afternoon. It was quite cloudy, so we were not able to see the snow in Iowa as we passed over it. However, I had my window shade open to see if we could catch a glimpse.

It was almost surreal as we flew across the US. Here we are, Christmas Eve, flying over the United States. As we flew over Iowa, my mind went to Christmas past - first of my childhood, then of the first few years of our marriage. I was remembering how every year my dad's church had their children's Christmas program every Christmas Eve. (I always secretly wanted to be Joseph in the Christmas play, but was often only a shepherd or a cherub...the latter was really a stretch LOL.) After the Christmas Eve Service, we would run to our house, and go upstairs to get ready for bed. Santa always came early to the Pfaltzgraff house - we would wait patiently until we heard the old set of sleigh bells that my grandfather used on his old sleigh ring out. We knew then, Santa had come, and we would run downstairs to gather around the Christmas tree to see what he had left. As I flew over Iowa, I remembered one year when we all hoped that Santa would leave us a Color TV! We ran down - looked first in the living room, but there was only the old Black and White sitting in the corner where it always was. But each of us had a small gift from Santa - a pair of green tinted glasses - we were told if we put them on when the TV was on, we could see TV in color! LOL

After we opened gifts, we would all go to bed and sleep a few hours, In the middle of the night, my dad and mom would load us into our van and we would head to Blue Earth, MN to my grandmother's house for Christmas. In our van, we each had our place - mine was the third seat - where I could lay out and sleep. My two sisters would be in the seat in front of me, where my older sister Tamie would lay on the seat, and my younger sister Anne would have a bed made on the floor for her. My two younger brothers always had a bed made in the very back of the van where they would sleep...and we would drive to Minnesota.

Christmas morning was always full of preparation for my two Uncles and their families would come for our annual Christmas Celebration and meal. I remember my grandmother would have fresh baked breads, and some of the best Christmas cookies ever made! (especially those cut-out cookies with frosting - and no one since her death has been able to duplicate that frosting!!) We would then gather around the Christmas tree, with a great fire in the the fireplace and have a family worship service before opening gifts.

I remembered our first Christmas as a married couple. We lived in a small two bedroom apartment in Des Monies - we had bought a real tree and had it in front of our sliding glass door. I remember how special it was to celebrate Christmas together with my wife. It was so nice, Donna had to make me leave for an errand the first week of February so she could take down the tree without my complaining!! 

I remembered our first Christmas with our daughter. We were pastors of a United Methodist Church in Randalia, Iowa - our house was right on the edge of town. We had bought a beautiful Christmas Tree. Donna's parents came early Christmas morning and we opened gifts, and had a very nice breakfast together. After breakfast, we all got in one car and drove to Chicago to celebrate with Donna's sister and family in Libertyville - it was such a great time!

I remembered our first Christmas in Oklahoma - although we drove home Christmas Eve day to spend Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with Donna's family, we had a tree right next to our fireplace! It was so beautiful...although I remember it being quite strange to have such a warm Christmas that year, and no hope of snow! (I don't remember if we had snow that year in Iowa/Illinois or not).

By the time our flight had reached the Nebraska line, I dozed for a bit...but woke up suddenly, looked out my window and saw the East Range of the Rockies of Colorado. I looked on our flight tracker, and saw we were flying over the mountain where we lived in Rye. I remembered our first Christmas in Colorado - we had no money, but a member of our church took us shopping so we could have at least one gift each! I remember, I got Donna a new Microwave, and she got me a ski jacket! I don't remember for sure, but I think we got Kierstien a mountain bike for Christmas that year! I remember going into the woods to cut a fresh tree - and how we placed it in front of our picture window.  I remember one Christmas in Colorado Christmas fell on a Sunday - we had no plans to go to visit family that year, but my parents bought us airline tickets to fly from Colorado to Kansas City, where we then drove to Iowa for Christmas night! I also remember leaving a bag at the car rental place that night - and how they had to send it to us by next day air! 

Our flight continued across the US - and I continued to think about Christmas past. Our first Christmas in Southern California - when we got up early Christmas day, put on our bathing suits and went to the beach! I remember - by Southern California standards, it was COLD! But we were fresh from Colorado - so we thought it was pretty nice! We spent a few hours on the beach, in the water, and then went back to the house for our Christmas dinner. Our first Christmas in Arizona - we had moved to Tucson in October, and Donna's dad had a heart attack the week after we moved! We flew back to Iowa and spent three weeks there, until his death the end of November. When we got back to Arizona, we came to San Diego to move our things just before Christmas Eve! In fact, I remember unpacking on the 24th of December all day, and even got all our Christmas things up and our house decorated by the evening! We always had a tradition of doing Clam Chowder for Christmas eve - but that year we were so exhausted we went to Black Angus for Clam Chowder instead! 

As we flew into San Diego, we saw from the air the lights of Christmas. The Coronado Bridge was lit up, it looked so nice coming to our home in the US. I remembered our first Christmas in our home where we now live. The landlady had left a wreath in our garage that fit over our front window - we had put a Christmas tree in the window, decorated with white lights only and all our "old fashioned" Christmas Ornaments. Then we put the wreath on the front window. It looked so nice. We also put a live tree in our family room close to the fire. Such good memories of Christmas past!

The past three years have been so different for us at Christmas time. in 2010, Donna and I took our first trip to Africa at Christmas time. That year, for some reason, we decided to fly from Kenya to Iowa for Christmas! What a fiasco! We missed our flight from Detroit to Des Moines...and didn't get to Iowa until 11PM that night! There was lots of snow and ice that year! Kierstien came and joined us in Iowa - and she had such challenges getting out of San Diego that year too! But we had a great time with family! Last year, we flew home and got in just in time to attend our church's Christmas Service! We drove straight from the airport tot he church! Can you spell TIRED!! But it was such fun! This year, we got home at 7PM last evening (Christmas Eve). We were tired, but it was good to be home for Christmas.

So this morning, I am reflecting on Christmas past - but rejoicing in the day! We will spend a quiet day, maybe go find someplace that will serve a Christmas lunch for us (who has had time to go grocery shopping??) and then stop by and visit our Pastor and his family for a bit - and I am reflecting on Christmas future. We don't always know what the future holds - but we see a bright future filled with hope! We thought of traveling to the Mid-west again next year for Christmas - maybe one year we will celebrate Christmas in our home in Africa. But what ever the future holds, we are confident of this - Jesus is alive!

So today, we celebrate the birth of Jesus. We didn't do any shopping this year - our gift to each other was getting to the US for Christmas! But we will celebrate the birth of our best friend, our Savior! And we will celebrate the love of family and friends! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! 
                          TOGETHER WE REALLY DO MAKE THE DIFFERENCE!

These past few weeks have been very full for me. I traveled the end of September from my home in Kenya to my home in California. I only had three days at home before leaving for Colorado. One of the highlights of my year is attending the Andrew Wommack Minister’s Conference the first week of October. It is a time of refreshing for my spirit, and really needed!  Each year, God has supernaturally provided housing for me in Colorado – and this year was no exception! Some good friends and partners allowed me to stay in their “vacation rental” in Colorado Springs for the entire time! It was such a blessing.

The first Sunday in Colorado, I shared our vision with Faith Christian Fellowship in Trinidad. Pastors Bill and Sharon have been such good friends for many years! They have been so supportive and encouraging to us as we moved from pastoring a church to being full time missionaries in Africa. It was a great joy to be with them; to share what God is doing in East Africa, and to share the word! We had a number of people receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit at the end of our service – what a joy!

On Monday, our pastor joined me in Colorado Springs for the Minister’s Conference. We had such a great time in the Word and in fellowship! Other speakers at the conference were Pastor Bob Yandian of Tulsa, OK and Pastor Bob xxx of Fort Worth. We had some great times of praise and worship, good word, and great fellowship!

The Sunday following the conference, I attended church in Woodland Park, CO – Charis Fellowship Church. We had a great service – and God had such a great word for me!

In addition to the conference, I was able to see and fellowship with good friends in Pueblo – it was so good to catch up! The rest of this month I will stay based in San Diego, preparing for our next trip to Kenya.

I wanted to update my travel blog for the newsletter and give a quick report of my trip to Turkana. You can scroll below to read more about some of the adventures we had - this is only a summary.

We drove to Lodwar after the dismissal of the Bible School. The first day in Lodwar, we picked up the first team of Feed the Hungry, who were coming to document some of the things they are sponsoring in Turkana. On the second day, we drove to a small village called Edos where we talked with the people, interviewed children whose lives have been changed, and distributed food packs to the people.  After returning to Lodwar, members of the Feed the Hungry team went with the Bishop and two vehicles to pick up the president of Feed the Hungry, Pete Summral, and additional team members. 

The next morning, we all loaded into two vehicles and drove about an hour into nowhere to a small village called Sopel. Here we met with the children of the school, did a feeding of those children, spoke with the village elders and village residents, and did a food distribution of maize and a dry soup mix.  It was a long, hot day - and a real experience. While we were in Sopel, a young school girl came and began talking with me in the Turkana language. One of our interpreters was close, so he came and told me what she was asking. She asked me what disease I had that caused me loose my color. She was so sincere and caring in her request! I just smiled.

The last day in Turkana, we returned to Edos to feed school children, do more filming, and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a successful trip - we found two and possibly four young men who want to come to our Bible School in the fall. It was such a great experience - and i honestly can't wait to go back!