Trivia Night this Saturday!

As the title suggests, we're doing a Trivia Night this Saturday out at the Southwest Campus of South Side Christian Church. Our Kenya team is putting it together to raise money for our trip.
Registration begins at 6:30 p.m.
Trivia begins at 7:00 p.m.
Cost: $10 per person.
8 people per team.
There'll be a silent auction going on during the trivia night.
Snacks will be provided.

It's crazy to think that we're already in mid April. In just a few months we'll be packing to head back to Kenya! We're both incredibly excited. For me personally, spending time with the kids and building relationships with them had an extremely profound impact on my relationship with God (and with other people, for that matter...) and my overall view of the world.
Getting to know the personalities of kids like Nancy, Maggie, Joel, Elliot, Maina, Daniel, James, James and James(yeah there were at least three...) completely made me rethink my views of poverty. After befriending these guys and gals, "poverty," which was always something I was "aware" of, became a personal issue- like it was something happening to a member of my family or friends. I couldn't and can't ignore their pain. It's mine too!

To think that I get to see these guys again makes me so glad. That's why I'm so excited about the Trivia Night(aside from the fact that it's going to be a BLAST!!!): because it's going to bring us one step closer to these people that many of us have grown to love deeply. To serve them again with our hands, resources and time is a blessing I don't quite know how to express in words.

-dave

Kenya 09!

As many of you probably already know, David and I are traveling back to Kenya this July. Words can not express how excited we are to have this opportunity. We ordered our plane tickets this week and it is finally beginning to sink in that in a little over 100 days we will be in Africa. As we hugged the kids good bye last year we hoped we would see them again but we had no idea that God would make that possible again this summer. We can't wait to wrap our arms around them, sing, dance, and play again!

Last year we traveled with a group of 6, us and 4 students from UIS. This year our team has grown to 9 and everyone from last year's trip is returning! We will travel over as group of 7 and meet 2 of our students there. God really has set a passion in the hearts of the students at UIS for kids. We saw this when we traveled to Nett Lake last month and we are pumped for what he has planned when are students are reunited with (or meeting for the first time) Joel, Gladys, Maina and Jane.

If you want to know more about what are students are doing in response to last year's trip and our friend Shana's trip in 2007 check out www.jumpforjoel.org.