2026 CLC Mission Helper Trip to East Africa

  Pastor Tom Naumann here.   Today was a rest day for our team. There is no school on Saturday so no opportunities for us to teach. For the past 8 days we have either been traveling or teaching or both. It was nice to have a day to relax before a busy Sunday tomorrow.  We spent the day at the 40-acre farm of the Sagala family. The matriarch Anna Sagala (87 years young) is the one who walked into Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Phoenix, AZ one Sunday in 2009, thus beginning the CLC’s involvement in this area of Kenya. We visited with Anna, her daughter Mary, daughter-in-law Alice, and granddaughters Tessie and Anna (named after her grandma). We ate a traditional African lunch complete with Kenyan black tea. We walked the property and saw cows, goats, chickens, guava trees, avocado trees, eucalyptus trees, mulberry trees, coffee trees, and banana trees. Although we did not see monkeys, we’re told they are a serious nuisance to the fruit trees.  The day made me think abou...

As I look back on yesterday, one theme stands above everything else: God is always working before we arrive. Yesterday we traveled to Ambureni Primary School , the same school Elisha attended as a child and where Robert’s children attended until the family moved back to their village earlier this year. We estimate there were somewhere between 300 and 400 students , making it our largest school yet. The students were attentive, engaged, and eager to participate as we shared the Gospel through Bible stories, songs, and activities. After we left the school, Robert shared something that made us appreciate the opportunity even more. He believed all of the teachers were Muslim, and that more than half of the students were Muslim as well. Yet we had been welcomed into their school and given the opportunity to openly share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Only God opens doors like that. One of the highlights came during the question-and-answer time when a Muslim student sincerely asked Robert,...