Dear Family and Friends,

Near the base of Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, there is a small village of Karansi.  It was there in 2002 that Pastor Wariaeli Maphie was stirred by his passion to minister to the widows and orphans of this very poor community. Wariaeli focused on education and by 2004 had started the Punchmi Christian School in partnership with Perimeter Church.  Project Child, a child sponsorship program, provides for daily nourishment, education, health benefits, and biblical study for the children at the Punchmi School and connects them to spiritual nourishment and discipleship through Pastor Wariaeli's church.  These sponsorships have enabled the Punchmi School to achieve national recognition, with standardized test score rankings in the top 10%.

Our family has been blessed to participate in these sponsorships with Project Child for the past 3 years.  We have been praying and waiting for the right opportunity to go see these children in person.  This coming June, we (Matthew and Calhoun) are being blessed with the chance to take this much-awaited visit. While we are there we will be building relationships and helping Pastor Wariaeli’s church to conduct a Vacation Bible School for likely hundreds of the village children.  We will also have a chance to meet our 3 sponsored children, Witness (14), Nickson (12), and Edrine (10).  We are both looking forward to playing with and getting to know many of the children of the Punchmi School and from the village.

Short-term trips like these have helped develop the local leadership of Pastor Wariaeli’s church and the Punchmi School and are a vital part of the transform of this entire region of Tanzania.  We are asking you to prayerfully consider supporting us financially toward our total goal of $7,000.  All donations are tax-deductible and any amount is appreciated!

Whether you are able to give financially or not, please join us and our team by praying specifically that the Lord will go before us to work in the hearts of the village children as we share the gospel.  Many of them will be hearing the story of Christ's love for the very first time.

“We will tell the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders he has done.” Psalm 78:4