We left Kenya October 28th and landed in Atlanta Georgia on the 29th, for a 2.5 month whirlwind trip in the U.S. The trip itself, though uneventful, was brutal on the aging bodies, with 3 legs to the journey, a 15 hour flight on one leg, and a 10 hour layover in Toronto (yes, Canada…don’t ask why we went there. It was just part of the great deal on tickets). The purpose of this trip was many-fold – to see friends and supporters we had not seen since 2021, to raise funds for Ukarimu Ministries, and to spend the holidays with U.S. family members.
We have already spent Thanksgiving weekend with Chip’s younger brother, Dan and his wife Jill. It was sure nice connecting with this fine couple again. In America, the Thanksgiving holiday is closely linked to American football, so naturally, there was the obligatory game on the television and Chari gained a fresh, mild interest in American football, unexperienced before.
We have been in and/or through 14 states and visited 18 friends/family units at this point halfway through our journey, as well as having attended and spoken in a week-long missions conference at Cross Points Church in Shawnee, Kansas. We are currently spending 12 days in Pensacola, reconnecting with friends at another supporting church, Charity Chapel, while also getting in Doctors’ appointments, taking care of various business matters and of course, the obligatory shopping.
We arrived in the South just in time to miss the big winter storm that hit the Midwest and northeast parts of the country, where we had been just the week before! We trust God to continue to favour us with good weather (especially for driving) and good health, which has remained illness free up to this point. Please continue to be in prayer for us as we still need to travel back up north for some days in Tennessee; to Pennsylvania to spend Christmas with our son, Joshua and his family; and to Maryland to spend New Year’s with Chari’s sister, Luanne and her husband. We still have 1-2 speaking engagements as well before it’s all said and done. Thanks to all of you who have shown us so much love all the years we have been serving in Kenya. We plan to return in early January.
Chip and Chari at Eden Ridge
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