Monday, May 25, 2015

Countdown for Kenya Return as we celebrate Memorial Day


Chupplink to You:   Tenwek House Project with AMAZING progress!

In early April we sent out a letter asking many of you receiving this Chupplink, to consider giving toward a matching gift that friends of our work in Kenya offered to help us build a house at Tenwek Hospital.  That matching gift was for $40,000 with a deadline for the match of June 1st.  As of today we have received a little over $37,000 so that our account balance has reached $64,500!   We also have several individuals/couples who have made commitments to give to build this house at Tenwek to help alleviate a looming housing crisis in 2016.  The total budget for the house construction is $120,000 so we are praying that with this appeal, a total of $60,000 will come in by June 1st,  ( ie approximately $20,000 more in the next one week) , not including the matching gift.    If you did not receive our letter or lost it (or have now remembered that there was that green letter last month from the Chupps!), there are two ways to give:

Online:   go to link:   www.wgm.org/chupp-house and fill out the on line form
OR
By mail:  send check with note attached “Chupp Tenwek House project 35239” to

Donor Services, World Gospel Mission,  Box 948,  Marion, IN 46952

If you have already given,   THANK YOU SO MUCH!   What a blessing the many gifts have been to Pam and I this past 5 or 6 weeks.  It appears that God is working through you to build a house for Tenwek and our family for the coming years. 

Our summer schedule and preparations to return to Tenwek Hospital
Mike is down to just 2 weeks of work with the surgery department of Southwestern Medical Clinic with his last day being June 5th.  We are delighted to report that God has already provided for a renter for our house in St. Joseph, a new staff and her family from the Lakeland Hospital, St. Joseph, campus.   We will be moving out of our house on June 30th and our renters move in the next day.  We remain humbled but so grateful to God for His provision EVERY TIME we have left the US for Kenya over the past 20 years.  We plan on spending the month of July with Pam’s parents in Chattanooga during which time Mike is scheduled to fly to Seoul, Korea to speak twice at a medical missions conference at Yonsei University, July 16th to 23rd .  Yonsei has been sending final year medical students to Tenwek for several years now to experience medical missions in Africa first hand.  The students have been top notch and very energetic additions to our staff each Jan/February.  Our departure date is August 2nd and the bonus for our trip is that we will be meeting WGM Africa Regional Director, Mr. Jon Steury and wife Vera, in Amsterdam and flying into Nairobi together on Aug 3rd.    

Steven and Melody’s future
Our two oldest kids will remain in the US this fall to carry on their lives and education.   Steven has been offered a home to stay in here in Berrien County, MI with a very good friend and his family who attend church with Steven at New Life Baptist Church in St. Joseph.   He continues to work at Chili’s as a server and is very excited about a short term trip to Jamaica with his church in mid June.  His desire to re-enter the Air Force was thwarted because of new requirements handed down from the administration that he couldn’t meet. He is now seriously looking at the possibility of mission aviation and becoming a pilot as one of our local universities here in Berrien Country has a reputable aviation training program.   Melody, our oldest daughter, finished her spring term at Lake Michigan College well and is working nearly full time this summer at Starbucks. (one of our favorite places!)  She plans on moving to South Carolina in the late summer and starting school at Upstate University of South Carolina in Spartanburg, only 30 minutes from Mike’s parents.   Several other MK’s (missionary kids) from Kenya are also in universities in South Carolina which makes her very happy.  She is planning on continuing her studies in Biology with a pre-Physician Assistant course emphasis. 

Ministry at Tenwek……. YEAR 20
August 20th will mark the beginning of our 20th year of ministry at Tenwek Hospital with World Gospel Mission.  Every term of service has looked a little different.  This term, we will be EMPTY NESTERS during most of the year as Kayla (Junior) and Ashley (8th grade) will be boarding at Rift Valley Academy three out of every four months.  They are both very excited to be going to RVA this fall.  Mike will be carrying on in the long term role of Medical Superintendent while doing part time surgery (mostly orthopedic because department chief, Dr. Dan Galat, will be home on HMA).   Pam will be taking up the responsibilities of South Sudan ministry team logistics coordinator AND will be pinch hitting for the Friends of Tenwek organization as administrative assistant until a new intern, Mr. Joel White, arrives.   Work permit delays have been quite common these days so Pam may be covering for Joel for several weeks or even a couple of months.  Hospitality and Tenwek station duties will also play a prominent part of Pam’s daily activities soon after arrival, to be sure.  We met Joel a little over a week ago, after he had completed orientation training at WGM in mid May.    What an outgoing and like-able young man Joel is, having just graduated from college with a Business Administration degree.   He sent us his picture below with Jared and Kristian Gleason and children (WGM headquarters staff who recruit and train volunteers) and Audrey (far left in picture) who is headed to Argentina this summer as a volunteer (Joel is the guy with impressive facial hair!)

Prayer Points
Praise God for:
1. Many generous givers for our house project
2. Renters for our house in St. Joseph
3. Places to live and plans to follow for Steven and Melody
4. Nineteen blessed years of being missionaries with World Gospel Mission at Tenwek Hospital 

Please pray for:
1. The remaining ~ $20,000 to come in for our house project at Tenwek by June 1st, if possible
2. Staffing needs at Tenwek this summer:  while the surgery department is well staffed, the medicine, peds, ortho surgery, and ob departments are in critical need June through August.  Please pray that God will send short term doctors to fill these big gaps in patient care.
3.  Final opportunities we have in the next two months to share about our ministry and Tenwek Hospital including Mike’s home church in Mooresville, IN June 14th. 
4.  Transition out of our home in Michigan at the end of June and goodbyes with our son Steven as well as church and clinic friends
 
Thank you praying friends and family!  We could not be approaching our 20th year of ministry in Kenya WITHOUT YOU!
 
Mike and Pam
Missionaries with World Gospel Mission serving at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya
Mailing address:  487 Maiden Lane,  St. Joseph, MI 49085
Mike's cell:  269-985-8564
Pam's cell:  269-985-8561

 

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