Kenya with the Trumps - Day 7

View Missionary's lives through the eyes of Rev. Billy Brath of RevCreative (http://revcreative.org/) while he visits and documents his experience in a series "Kenya With the Trumps: A Reporting Series on Visiting Missionaries":

Kenya with the Trumps - Day 6

View Missionary's lives through the eyes of Rev. Billy Brath while he visits and documents his experience in a series "Kenya With the Trumps: A Reporting Series on Visiting Missionaries":

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Made a contribution to a congregation's fundraiser today. Elijah then riffled through my wallet & pulled out his own donation to hand over.

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Elijah, 3, Praying: Dear Jesus, please make the new heavens and the new earth. Because I like them so much. When I die I will go there. Amen

Kenya with the Trumps - Day 5

View Missionary's lives through the eyes of Rev. Billy Brath while he visits and documents his experience in a series "Kenya With the Trumps: A Reporting Series on Visiting Missionaries":

Kenya with the Trumps - Day 4

View Missionary's lives through the eyes of Rev. Billy Brath while he visits and documents his experience in a series "Kenya With the Trumps: A Reporting Series on Visiting Missionaries":

LCMS Project Catalog Online

The LCMS has just released a new project catalog that allows you to search through some of the featured projects the LCMS is supporting around the world. If you've ever felt drawn to supporting God's work through the LCMS in Africa, these projects and programs are all endorsed by our field missionaries, approved by the LCMS Board of International Mission, and overseen by our local project managers and grant administrators. In other words, we've brought a great amount of experience to bear to try and do things well for the benefit of God's people here and the church He has established in their midst. I have confidence in these projects, in their design, and in their impact. Take a look (opens in a new window): http://www.lcms.org/projectcatalog#content-filter:value=africa

RevCreative on Assignment

Rev. Billy Brath of RevCreative (RevCreative.org) is on assignment in Kenya doing some contracted media work for The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod's East Africa Field Office. Here's a quiet moment doing some editing.

Kenya with the Trumps - Day 3

View Missionary's lives through the eyes of Rev. Billy Brath while he visits and documents his experience in a series "Kenya With the Trumps: A Reporting Series on Visiting Missionaries":

Kenya with the Trumps - Day 2

View Missionary's lives through the eyes of Rev. Billy Brath while he visits and documents his experience in a series "Kenya With the Trumps: A Reporting Series on Visiting Missionaries":

Kenya with the Trumps

View Missionary's lives through the eyes of Rev. Billy Brath while he visits and documents his experience in a series "Kenya With the Trumps: A Reporting Series on Visiting Missionaries":

Concordia Plans Supports Missionaries

Supporting our Missionaries from Concordia Plans on Vimeo.

How to Spot the Animals

"Josiah, on your birthday, we're going to go on safari with Uncle Billy, does that sound like fun?"
"Yes!"
"You know, Uncle Billy hasn't been on safari before."
"That's crazy! Why have so many people not gone on safari?! I will have to teach him how to spot the animals."

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls to start Thanksgiving

Let Thanksgiving begin! Pumpkin cinnamon rolls with a cream cheese glaze. Course one of many!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Field Notes - November 3, 2015

Writing from Nairobi, Kenya November 3, 2015 Malawi – Flowing, Living Water

The Confessional Lutheran Church – Malawi Synod (CLCMS) is a small but vibrant church body in the warm heart of Africa. In Malawi they say “Teeth are a sign of peace” and those toothy smiles welcomed us everywhere we went. The LCMS has supported several projects in Malawi including matching gifts for church building construction, famine relief food, and the drilling of wells, all in support of God's people and His work of reconciliation.Having never been to Malawi before and with a tight schedule, Shauen and his fellow workers, Shara Cunningham and Erik Lunsford, didn't expect to see much of the country, but their hosts had other ideas. Over the course of just three days the CLCMS took their LCMS visitors up and down the main highway in Malawi with side trips to several congregations and the occasional tourist site. The small matching grants for church building construction went further in Malawi than in just about any other place we've seen. The congregations made 30,000 baked mud bricks and collected the sand, gravel, and stones for the church building. The funds from the LCMS provided cement, plaster, paint, roof trusses, and tin roofing sheets. The size and quality of the resulting church structure was a testimony to the church's eagerness in partnering together with a strong local contribution. The wells that were drilled near the congregations, using LCMS grants, provided water to the entire community in places where that water was desperately needed. Most important though, as the chairman of the church body visited, each church wanted to worship together and celebrate with baptisms and communion. As observers, we couldn't help but get caught up in the joyful celebration. An assistant brought water from the newly-drilled well into the newly built church which was filled far beyond capacity. Then with those grace-filled words of promise, forgiveness, and assurance, that well-water was used for something far more than mere water could ever do – the baptizing of dozens of young adults and children into the family of God. Praise the Lord for His work among God's people in Malawi! Refugee Camp Visits in Turkana The Holy Spirit doesn't care much about national boundaries. Years ago, the LCMS planted churches among Sudanese people groups in a refugee camp in northwest Kenya. Today it is still hard to figure out where the congregation fits. Are the congregations part of the church in Kenya, the church in Sudan, or the church that planted them – the LCMS? Without any pastors living within a hundred miles of the camp, the question of who will serve them is still asked – who will visit for preaching, teaching, baptizing, confirming, and administration of communion? For years, the LCMS has provided pastoral services to the congregations in Kakuma either in the form of LCMS missionaries traveling to the refugee camp or by sending pastors seconded by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK). This month, Shauen was able to make a brief visit to the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Turkana to encourage the congregations and see how they were managing in their difficult and challenging situation. Shauen and his co-travelers from the LCMS and ELCK met five different Lutheran congregations of God's faithful in the camp, each from a different part of Sudan. In brief visits we greeted each congregation, shared a short message from Scripture, prayed with them, and recommitted ourselves to supporting ministry among them. Please keep Rev. Daniel Mutai, seconded by the ELCK for quarterly visits to Kakuma, in prayer as he ministers to God's people there and pray for peace in the home areas of those displaced. State of the Project Forum The Christ's Care for Children sponsorship project was designed to be transparent and collaborative. The LCMS Director for the project, Kissinger Nyang'au, has embraced that vision. The project design includes an annual State of the Project Forum, a time for all site managers, church leaders, LCMS staff and project supporters to come together to learn from each other about the successes and challenges of each site and the operation overall. The first Forum was held in northwest Kenya. While each site manager spent some time in the hot seat, the forum was widely hailed as a resounding success. The detailed reports from each site enabled each site manager to learn from the others. Praise the Lord for this time of sharing and new beginnings! Photos in Focus Malawi (all photos by Erik Lunsford) Prayer Requests For wisdom, discernment, and patience for Shauen and Krista in their work as spouses, parents, and missionaries For the missionaries, projects, and relationships Shauen oversees for the church For Rev. Daniel Mutai and God's work in Kakuma Refugee Camp, northwest Kenya In Praise For the Lutheran Church in Malawi For potential new missionaries deliberating a call to this field For the encouragement and fellowship of spending time with fellow LCMS co-workers on the field

Contact Us At: Shauen & Krista Trump PO Box 22 Karen 00502 KENYA shauen.trump@lcmsintl.org  krista.trump@lcmsintl.org TheTrumps.org  LCMS.org/Trump   To support this work financially, you may send a tax-deductible gift to: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod PO Box 66861 St. Louis, MO 63166-6861 Make checks payable to The LCMS and mark the memo line “Trump-East Africa”       OR Give securely online at http://LCMS.org/trump

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"Teeth are a sign of peace" - a proverb from Malawi referring to smiling. Malawi is certainly a land of peace - the warm heart of Africa.

Rhino Charge

I received an ultimate compliment today driving over the ditch to get into our driveway: "Have you ever driven in the Rhino Charge?"  http://rhinocharge.co.ke/

Field Notes - September 23, 2015

Writing from Nairobi, Kenya September 23, 2015 Featured Project: The School Boarding Project in Kenya

Children in Kenya often have to grow up quickly, taking on substantial household and family obligations at an early age - from fetching water and caring for younger siblings to working in the farm or herding the goats. Some live in homes where their father is working in town and their mother in the village cares for her own children plus many of her nieces and nephews. Others live in homes where their grandmother is caring for many of her grandchildren. Yet others are orphaned and live with their extended family or clan. These bright, hopeful, cheerful, and excitable children all want to go to school but many find that when they are at home they are asked to take on so much of the work of the household that they cannot study - and they often drop out of grade school altogether. The School Boarding Project in Kenya uses school boarding facilities built adjacent to Lutheran primary schools and Lutheran congregations and run by the local Lutheran Church to provide a home away from home, where grade-school children can be dedicated to studying, homework, extracurricular activities, chores and responsibilities appropriate for their age, and a life with the church under the cross. On school holidays, children go home and become evangelists to their own families and clans, bringing into their communities what they see, learn, and live while in the boarding center at school. The routine at the center involves the daily services of morning prayer and evening prayer, weekly visits by the pastor to teach confirmation class and lead Bible Study, and care by a staff Deaconess or Evangelist dedicated to the spiritual nourishment of the children day-to-day. Twice a year, children from different centers compete in a Bible Club Competition which includes team-based recitation of Luther’s Small Catechism and team and individual memory verses. The children take an active role in the congregation as well, with some centers forming a children’s choir and others volunteering to keep the church grounds and building clean and neat. The project is designed to foster a close connection between children and the church with daily Scripture engagement in the center. Praise the Lord for His children! Uganda Partner's Conference The Lutheran Church Mission in Uganda welcomed us into their midst six and a half years ago when we first deployed to Africa. Like most missionaries, we look back fondly on our first placement and often reminisce about the work, the people, and the opportunities we had there. We've moved on from Uganda to Kenya and accepted other responsibilities. We've changed and so has that small church body that first accepted us on the field. They have grown from one ordained pastor serving 60 congregations when we arrived, to now 19 pastors serving 120 congregations. They have outgrown their constitution, changed their name to the Lutheran Church of Uganda (LCU), and now manage a large number of partnerships with individual LCMS congregations and members in addition to their relationship to the LCMS as a church body. For several years, Shauen and other partners have suggested an opportunity to come together as partners of the church to learn more about what each partner is doing and where, how they are relating to the church, and how we can closer collaborate together. The first LCU partner's conference took place last month with a majority of the partners present from all over the United States. Shauen was asked to present on Avoiding Dependency in the Church and put together some thoughts and guidelines out of his experience that help distinguish between interdependency (as the body of Christ) and unhealthy dependency (which risks or damages the normal work of the church). Praise the Lord for His work among the Lutheran Church in Uganda! Missionary Orientation This summer new missionaries met in St. Louis for missionary orientation. The Eastern and Southern Africa field is excited to be receiving a number of new missionaries in the next year including missionary professors serving the seminaries in Kenya and Ethiopia, a nurse educator, a Mission Training Center facilitator serving the East Africa area, and a project manager serving all of Africa. Many of our new missionaries have a family with them which is particularly exciting for us. For many years we've not had any other LCMS missionary family with children living near us. During orientation, Krista took some time to visit with the women who will be deploying to our field. Praise the Lord for His new Harvest Workers for Eastern Africa! Photos in Focus Home Service 2015 Prayer Requests For wisdom, discernment, and patience for Shauen and Krista in their work as spouses, parents, and missionaries For the missionaries, projects, and relationships Shauen oversees for the church For new beginnings for challenging projects like the School Boarding Project in Kenya  In Praise For our time of home-service For new missionaries answering the call For the partners and leaders of the Lutheran Church in Uganda and those they serve

Contact Us At: Shauen & Krista Trump PO Box 22 Karen 00502 KENYA Shauen.Trump@LCMSintl.org  Krista.Trump@LCMSintl.org TheTrumps.org  LCMS.org/Trump   To support this work financially, you may send a tax-deductible gift to: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod PO Box 66861 St. Louis, MO 63166-6861 Make checks payable to The LCMS and mark the memo line “Trump-East Africa”       OR Give securely online at http://LCMS.org/trump

Growing Up

Me: "Yup, you'll keep growing taller till about 14 yrs old." Elijah: "Then I will be a grown-up & then I can sleep in Mama & Papa's room!"

Ordinal Numbers

Mama: This is the 4th time I've asked you to get in the truck (usually elicits immediate compliance) Josiah: 4 is an ordinal number! Mama:?!