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Stephen Black's Report on the 2007 Youth Trip to KenyaClick here to listen to Stephen Black and the youth who went on Kenya Mission trip, tell us about what they did, saw and learned on their trip. On August 14, the youth and I returned from our trip to Kenya. We are still trying to absorb, understand, and articulate what it was we experienced while there. It was on one hand, one of the most depressing sites we’ve ever seen; on the other, it was one of the most spiritually and emotionally uplifting experiences any of us has ever had. It is not easy to reconcile the tension between these two things. You may hear our reflections during the August 19 worship service by going to the church website or by checking out the video of the service in the church library. What follows is a brief description of what we did while away, and how we spent the additional money that you raised for us. We spent five days in Oregon, getting to know those we’d be traveling and working with We spent two full days (48 hours!) traveling to Maua from Portland Oregon, via Chicago and London, then Nairobi, followed by a 6 hour van ride to Maua. We spent five days in Maua at the Maua Methodist Hospital doing the following: Attending a Swahili language service at the Maua Methodist Church of Kenya We spent six days at the Methodist Church of Kenya’s Bio-Intensive Farm in Kaaga, near Meru. This farm is a school that trains Kenyans to subsist on very little land. We refurbished a house on site to serve as a guest house, expanding the housing We spent three days on safari at the Masai Mara National Wildlife refuge We saw zebra, wildebeest, hippos, rhinos, crocodiles, giraffe, elephant, lions, leopards, gazelle, hyenas, birds, on and on. We saw a lion kill a wildebeest and Mimi, Michael and I had our van charged by an elephant. Reports vary as to whether the elephant got within 5 feet or 2 feet (in either case, he got too close for comfort) We also visited a Masai village to learn about Masai culture We ate a lot of rice and stew, slept under mosquito nets, saw poverty the likes of which we’ve never seen before, we saw drug addicts, town crazies who grab people inappropriately, we got frustrated with ourselves and with one another, but mostly we saw a lot of smiles, and felt a lot of warmth from the Kenyan people, especially the children. How did we spend the extra money? We pooled our resources with those of the churches in Oregon for the following: We started a scholarship for the Maua Methodist Hospital’s School of Nursing, whose graduates have the highest pass rate of Kenya’s national board certification exam of any school in that nation. Of course we could not have done this were it not for all of you! Thanks to everyone who attended fundraisers, bought tickets, responded to pleas by letter for hefty sums, and donated coins in our “Change for Africa” campaign in the narthex. A special word of thanks to Paul Jackson and the Golden State Road Warrior wheelchair basketball team, the Alien Cowboys, and Victor Backer, who helped us raise about 1/3 of our funds. Blessings, 2007 Youth Trip To Kenya ReportDuring Worship on Sunday, August 19, 2007, the Rev. Dr. Stephen Black and the youth who went on the Mission Trip to Kenya told us about their trip. You will hear from Stephen Black, Alex Johnson, Michael Riley, Ruthie Ryan, Mimi Sheffer and David Carman.
The Youth Mission Trip
This was a Volunteer In Mission (VIM) trip of the United Methodist Church’s Board of Global Ministry (GBGM). The group traveled to Meru, Kenya, where they spent one week at Maua Methodist Hospital working on various hospital projects and building a two room home for AIDS orphans. They spent a second week working on a bio-intensive farm, and then closed their trip with a three-day safari. In between they toured Kenya Methodist University. If this is not the first time you have heard about the Maua Methodist Hospital, it is for good reason. Our church’s Outreach Committee, spear-headed a drive in 2006 that called our attention to the ills of Africa. As part of our response, we as a congregation pledged $14,000 to a major project of this hospital. Prior to the trip, the youth held a variety of events to help them raise funds for their trip. The youth thank you for your prayers and support.
Click here to see photos from the youth mission trip to Africa. Read part one of the Youth Mission Trip to Kenya reports August 13 - Youth Mission Trip Report - Part 4
Greetings from Nairobi. We are almost out the door for home, and all is well. No photos today, as our computer time is limited. But know all are doing fine. The Masai Mara was incredible, and included, for some, both seeing rhinos - very rare - and getting charged by a bull elephant in a foul mood - while we were in a van. The vans were faster than the elephants, and the drivers were ready for it. They read the animals all the time. Thank goodness! Lots of animals and high adventure. We are in Nairobi today, at the Methodist Guest House, and will board the plane for London - SFO - PDX this evening. Mostly just being laid back today. Thank you for your continued support! For the Team, Jim Update August 12, 2007 from Nairobi, Kenya Sorry to be so incommunicado the last few days; the Mara had only one internet connection at the hotel and it was expensive, so no time to blog. It's now a bit after 10 pm on Sunday night, and we are at the Methodist Guest House in Nairobi. Pretty nice, actually. The safari was cool. Highlights: we got to see a lion kill a wildebeest, and earlier this morning AN ELEPHANT CHARGED OUR VAN!!! He got within about 5 feet before giving up. It was awesome, and a bit scary, but mostly awesome. Everyone says thank you for the trail mix. It was very popular. It was known as Rockin' Trail Mix (I believe I gave it that name). Everyone is well. But by now, they just want to be home. We have one more tortuous day here, with nothing scheduled before our flight at midnight, TOMORROW NIGHT! Marklar, Click here to see the photos from August 8, 2007. Update August 8, 2007 from Meru, Kenya Well it was Jim’s turn to blog, but he has been absorbed by many others things and asked if I’d do it again. So here goes. Today is our last day of work at the farm. We have nearly completed our work at the house renovation. Ted is laying some tile today, and there is some last minute painting that needs doing. Tomorrow we are off to Masai Mara to begin our safari! David is very excited about the 18-seater plane we will be taking from Nairobi to the Mara. In addition to renovating the house here at the Bio-Intensive Farm, we have also been doing some painting at a nearby secondary school run by the synod bishop’s wife. Brett has done an awesome job of coordinating our efforts there. The cool thing about this project is that the students of the school helped! They helped us paint, they sang, made us sing, danced, and told stories. When I was there on Tuesday, I discovered that the girls were sad that Alex was not there. He was there on Monday, but had duties on the farm Tuesday. Apparently a few of the girls, who had developed something of a crush on him, told their friends to come meet him. Michael’s presence on Tuesday seemed to assuage their sadness, however. In fact, we very nearly had Michael married off! The other big event of the last couple of days was the synod gathering of the women’s group –roughly equivalent to a District UMW meeting. Only there were over 2,500 women! These gatherings are a sort of competition in several categories: best dramatic reading of the same scripture passage, best performance of a musical set piece (an old British hymn), best original composition, best folk dance. Each competition has to be based upon the same scripture passage. The whole day and all of its events were based upon the same verses. It is their way of stressing the point in a place where many do not have individual bibles. The passage? 1 Cor.9:17-27. Look it up! We all have it memorized by now! The event began at 10 am and was scheduled to end at 4:30, but when Jim left at 6 pm it was still going on. The rest of the team managed to stay only an hour, but poor Jim was stuck there all day. It was an impressive gathering, but the rest of us were glad to get back to our work. This may well be our last blog; it depends on what the amenities are on the Mara. Rest assured that we are all well and in good spirits. We feel fortunate to be here and grateful to all of you back home in Oregon and California who have enabled this trip. And when it comes to the marklar. . . . Blessings, Stephen P.S. I and the youth from Palo Alto realized that we forgot to make arrangements to get home from SFO. We are hoping the parents can work that out, and some form of transportation home can be arranged next Tuesday. We will half of the luggage (plus 1) that we came with. Click here to see photos from the youth mission trip to Africa. Part one of the Youth Mission Trip to Kenya reports Sixth Member added to our Africa Team
Many thanks to our church family for raising over $30,000, enabling us to send an additional team member! Chuck & Mark's Mission Trip To Angola
This three-week VIM trip was part of a multiyear "partnership" between California/Nevada Conference and the West Angola Methodists to help them rebuild their country after the 27-year civil war which finally ended in 2002. Several members of the VIM team taught English as a second language. Mark and Chuck were on the "construction gang" and worked in and near Luanda and a small villiage, Cabala, about two hours south-east of the capital. Cabala is the site for which First UMC PaloAlto raised some $10,000 in 2006 to build a library for their local school. This visit gave Mark and Chuck an opportunity to take pictures of the Cabala site to share with all of us. They also had many opportunities to build relationships with the people. We posted Chuck and Mark's email reporting from their trip as soon as we received them. May 28, 2007 email Emails from Chuck's July 2007 trip back to Angola. July 3, 2007 email |
In August 2007, five of our youth, in addition to 
Update August 13, 2007 from Nairobi, Kenya
Chuck Hebel and Mark Bateman are two of a dozen Volunteers-in-Mission (VIM) traveled to Angola under the auspices of our California/Nevada United Methodist Conference. They departed on May 24, 2007 from SFO and returned on June 13, 2007. 
On Saturday, May 12, 2007, the youth hosted a wheelchair basketball fundraiser featuring the 
On Sunday, April 29, 2007, our Youth Group President, Alex Johnson, was featured in an interview with Chuck Gill, one of the players from the Golden State Road Warriors Wheelchair Basketball team.
Into Africa 
You may make a contribution at any time. 
Maua Methodist Hospital is a 150 bed hospital serving the Igembe, Ntonyiri and Mutuati divisions of the Nyambene District. It is run by the Methodist Church in Kenya. There are two general medical/surgical wards for men and women , two pediatric wards, an isolation ward and maternity. The maternity is divided into ante-and postnatal wards, labor ward and two nurseries, and currently has about 3,500 - 4,000 deliveries annually. There is an outpatient department with dental and ophthalmic clinics, and an active community health department, with several mobile clinics providing child development screening, immunization, antenatal and family planning services. There is also a nurse training school, training registered nurses, with an intake of 16 students per year.
On Friday, March 9, our youth, their families and 85 members of the congregation were introduced to the Rev. Jim Monroe and the Rev. Sue Owen from the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference. These two pastors (a clergy couple, despite their different last names), along with our own Stephen Black, will be the leaders of the VIM mission trip to Africa in which four of our youth will be participating. 
The First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto, California - A Welcoming Church spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ to the people of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties since 1894. We're conveniently located in downtown Palo Alto near the Stanford University campus. Whether you're in the Silicon Valley or on the Peninsula, we want to be your Church home.
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Readings for Sunday, August 24, 2008: Exodus 1:8-2:10, Psalm 124, Romans 12:1-8, Matthew 16:13-20
Read Archer's August 17th Gospel Commentary.
Come hear about the spiritual memoir of a twenty-first-century Christian
The UMW D'vora circle is spicing up the Kohlstedt Hall kitchen
 to Archer's August 3rd sermon. Save it to your iPod.
Join us for a talk by Raj Patel, the author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System. Bring a friend
Join the young adults for dessert, coffee, tea, cocoa, and games
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