Special offering already yielded over $183,000 to help churches, and families devastated by summer fires.

“You are an answer to prayer!” These words have been voiced over and over again in various forms during the past weeks as United Methodist churches...

We spent the day at Maua Methodist Hospital in Maua Kenya and visiting with the working groups of Zoe Ministries. This Maua Methodist Hospital is a vital health link in this community, providing much needed and excellent care to those desperately in need of medical care. This hospital would not exist today if it were not for the churches of the Texas Annual Conference.

Yesterday we arrived in Nairobi, Kenya after flying all day. We left Durban at 4:30 a.m. and arrived at the guest house in Nairobi at 5:30 p.m. – 13 hours of driving and flying.

Today we visited Phakamisa, a ministry of Pinetown United Methodist Church.  "Phakamisa" means to uplift and that is what this ministry seeks to do, to lift up communities in a way that enables them to claim their dignity, power, and future.

 We left Ethiopia on Wednesday, having been deeply touched by these beautiful children who face life with such courage and joy despite horrendous circumstances of life on the street.  Our hearts were and are heavy with the need of these mostly forgotten children and the urgency of response. 

We arrived in Dira Dawa, Ethiopia on August 28, late in the afternoon after a 10 hour bus ride.  Ethiopia is a beautiful country - filled with fertile volcanic ash fields, mountains, lakes and then the desert where Dira Dawa is located. 

We left for Africa contemplating Mother Teresa's words: " Where there is love, there is God" and seeking to care for Christ in the least of God's children as Jesus calls us to do.  We are here to learn to see with new eyes and love with open hearts - to love the forgotten of the world, even as God loved us.  That starts with learning to see them in their dignity and beauty and being present to the mystery of God within them.

Since we last posted, we have all left the Rizal Re-Creation Center's beauty for the grittier beauty of the "real" Philippines.

It has been several days since we were able to write to you about the trip to the Philippines and much has happened in that time.

The morning was spent introducing ourselves to our many new friends and discovering the land here at RRC as we awaited the other groups' arrival.

Today, we went to Pagsanian Falls in Laguna. The trip to Laguna takes about 40 minutes by bus, and what a bus ride it was.

After 23 hours of flying, and layovers/transfers in Honolulu and Guam, we arrived in Manila, Philippines at 8:40 p.m. local time (that's 7:40 a.m. on Saturday morning for the rest of you in Houston).

On April 1, no-fooling, 27 clergy and lay missioners will depart for the Philippines to share the good news of Jesus Christ in a way that addresses whole persons and communities in body, mind and spirit.  The model is an accompaniment model of mission whereby we seek to empower and walk with local churches, leaders, and community members as they discover how to embody the presence of Christ in and for the world.  We go as co-learners, expecting to receive as much, if not more, than we give; expecting God to meet us in places we might least expect to encounter the Christ; expecting to encounter the living God as we feed the hunger, give water to the thirsty, visit the sick and imprisoned, and find ourselves welcomed as strangers.  We go expecting God to transform us through those we seek to serve.  You are invited to follow with us on this journey and to hold us all in your prayers.  Many of you have given and prayed already.  Through your prayers and gifts, you participate as significantly as those of us who go.  We are grateful to have you on the team!  Pastor Diane McGehee

We watched the sunrise this morning over the eastern mountains that form the border with Honduras. As the light began to break, the whole earth seemed to join in a chorus of praise.

The lights of the city of San Salvador still sparkle across the valley and up the mountainside. Clouds cover much of the skyline and yet, there is a deep pink tear in the midst and at the edges of the darkness where the sun is attempting to burst forth with its light.  The scene before me is an appropriate metaphor for this incredible land and its people.

Today started early.  We were at the Rosa Blanca school in Alta Mira Flores by 7:30 am and the children (160 of them) were waiting for us.  They greeted the team with claps and cheers and had a music presentation as well as a poem prepared for us. 

After finishing breakfast we headed back to our rooms and were reflecting back on our experiences in the last 24 hours! It is crazy to believe that we were in the US boarding our plane 24 hours earlier and now have been in El Salvador, almost a day.

 I am honored to be with these incredible young men and women athletes from Southwestern University, who gave their Spring Break and have come eager to serve, ready to play soccer, and open to learning everything they can about this country, its history, and its people.