Successful 2013 Mission Team Heading Home

Success!

  Thank you!  We have a well in Malual thanks to the grace of God, your generosity, and the labor of a committed few.  Andrew returned from South Sudan this week, and Jacob has already started the journey home.  Clean water brings with it the promise of health, education, and development.   As stories and pictures arrive we will share them with all of you.

Looking forward...

  While Jacob and Andrew were in South Sudan, work here continued as we look forward to the next phase. Our 2014 trip will be a larger team focused on medical care, education, and the building and furnishing of a school building.  This is a big project complicated by the distance from resources and lack of infrastructure in Malual.  In addition to primary education, this school will provide opportunities for worship gatherings, community leadership development during a time of major change, help for girls and women to fulfill their dreams of education and personal choice for participatory voice in their communities, and bring hope to a community struggling to build a future as a functioning part of the newest country in the world.

  I hope you will support our 2014  effort by signing up for the"Strides 4 Students" 5K run/walk (see http://strides4students.com/), purchasing a raffle ticket, or both.  The fun run will be held on August 24th starting at the ShoWare Center parking lot.  The fun run registration fee is a $20 donation before August 1st and $25 after (with discounts for teams/families that register together).  If you register early you will also receive a t-shirt.  Grand prize for the raffle is 2 round trip tickets courtesy of Alaska Airlines, and are available for a donation of $10.

World Dance Party

  Saturday, June 22, is the Kent International Festival.  We had a group share some South Sudanese

culture by participating in the Friday World Dance Party at the Kent Senior Activity Center.  They were enthusiastically received by the crowd, and Machar did a great job sharing some facts about South Sudan, inviting people to learn more about the country and people, and representing the SSCRP effort at Kent Lutheran Church. He said he it was very important for  everyone in Washington to know that they wanted to dance to show everyone how they are doing back home, and that they came from Kent Lutheran Church that has a big group called South Sudan Community Restoration Program that is helping the people back home to get clean water. 

2013 Mission Trip Fundraiser Dinner Scheduled

   You've heard the statistics. 80% of fatal diseases in Africa's developing countries are preventable with clean water.  For those of us in the U.S. clean water is something we take for granted. We turn on a faucet and water comes out. Many of us dispense filtered water and ice from our refrigerator. We wash our clothes from clean water in our washing machines. But for millions of people around the world access to clean water is not so easy.

   We may not be able to help everybody, but there are people -- family and friends of our KLC members -- that we can help.

   On April 6, 2013, we will send our second mission trip to South Sudan. Our primary goal this year will be to drill a well in Malual, South Sudan. The travelers will also be delivering essential first aid and medical supplies, education supplies, Nuer Bibles and ministry supplies, and, as space permits, Little Dresses and Little Shorts for Africa.

   There have been several activities to fund this trip, but there is still a ways to go before we reach our goal. Most activities -- the shoe drive, calendar sales, and card sales -- are ongoing.  there was a carnival in November which was fun, but not as well attended as we'd hoped it would be. There will be one more fundraising event before the team leaves.  Please join us for dinner on Saturday, February 23, 2013, 5:00 PM, in the Kent Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall. Tickets are only $10.00 for dinner. A silent auction and live auction will also be held.  Please RSVP on e-Vite to let us know your coming. We hope to see you there.