What do we do?
Thursday, September 11, 2014 at 11:42AM We were recently asked by a Sunday School class in Idaho what we do in Africa. The answer changes often enough that we always have to think it through - what are we doing these days? Here’s our answer:
The Trump family is based in Nairobi, Kenya, which is in East Africa. Pastor Trump and Krista have three children: Josiah (4 years old - in pre-kindergarten), Elijah (2 years old), and Isaiah (10 months old). Pastor Trump supports the LCMS programs, projects, partnerships, and personnel in all of Eastern and Southern Africa - from Eritrea to the country of South Africa, including the very large island of Madagascar. I was most recently in Madagascar with my whole family, visiting and talking about some of God’s work there. In Madagascar, the LCMS is supporting a very large project to put roofs on over 100 churches that currently have thatch or grass roofs. We also support local doctors and nurses by bringing a team of doctors and nurses from the United States to do a medical outreach in a community that doesn’t have a clinic or doctor’s office. Sometimes when the team of doctors and nurses comes to a village, they will see hundreds of patients in one day. The Lutheran Church in Madagascar is twice as large as the LCMS. I have also recently traveled to the country of Ethiopia where we support their main seminary in the capital city. We have professors from LCMS schools travel to Ethiopia to teach. We recently helped the church there dig three very deep wells by hand to provide clean water to villages. The Lutheran Church in Ethiopia is three times larger than the LCMS. In Kenya where we live, I also support the local Lutheran church. This weekend, for example, I will be preaching in the village and visiting students at the seminary who are studying on LCMS scholarships. A lot of our work here in this part of God’s world is about spending time together, visiting, encouraging each other, teaching and learning, and celebrating how God makes us the same even though we are so different. God is good - all the time.
