The Hester’s are on the move again!  In many ways, honestly, currently, but for now, here, we want to just tell you about the most pressing one. As many of you know, our family has been blessed to interact, engage, and bond, through previous partnerships at Perimeter Church and School, with a small village outside of Mount Kilimanjaro- Karansi, Tanzania. 

And now… Not one, or two, but- ALL FIVE- of us are headed there to learn, grow, and serve in a few months, June 13-23. (Calhoun will actually be there beginning June 6. Connect with him for that full story! 😊) It’s quite daunting to consider actually, but it is clear this is the summer to make a full family trip happen.  It is a rich blessing!!!   As Calhoun and Matt did last year, we will conduct a VBS outreach sponsored by our SIHA Leadership Academy (previously  PUNCHMI - https://shefo.org/siha-leadership-academy)  for the village and surrounding area children, most of whom attend the local public schools.  Many of you will recall these are the children who Courtney served last summer with the UBORA TZ (http://uboratz.org/) inaugural Morehouse Medical School collaborative medical clinic/ database production trip.   We have not yet told our Tanzanian friends (our “family” there - our sponsor children, the teachers and professionals we have grown to know and love deeply). Check back with us for that video reveal!  Until then, we each have so much to say personally about what this trip means and why we feel the call to go now.  Flip to the back of our physical letter for our personal thoughts.  We think you will enjoy these more than this typing! But…

A few more pertinent items to cover … further details of this trip….

Each team members will conduct a 40 min activity. Each VBS child will experience all 8 centers as well as large group field games and large group worship each day.  We have increased to two weeks of both morning and afternoon sessions this year and expect to serve approximately 1000 children.  We will share with them tangible hope, love, and friendship.   If you have any other questions, or if in any way you desire to hear more, we ALWAYS want to talk about SIHA, UBORA, Tanzania, and Africa.  We’d love to buy you coffee.. or better.. let you taste Africafe (or TZ tea) and chat.

Needs and how you can help make this all possible:

****PRAY**** Please, please pray for us!!!!  Admittingly, we can get overwhelmed with all the details of this undertaking. We want our family (and those we are partnering with (our team and all those In Karansi)) to grow in faith, unity, love, and joy during the entire process.  Our total team includes 12 students (4-8^th grade) and 15 adults.

If you desire to physically meet needs and feel led, GIVE to our team.  Each member is responsible for raising support to cover airfare, living expenses, and the materials and supplies for the VBS activities.  You can donate easily by clicking on the "Support" or "Donate" buttons above.

All the children who attend the VBS will receive shepherding, care, activity materials, and a daily meal that to us may seem trivial.   But, the impact is beyond any and all WORDS can fathom. TRANSFORMATION is happening and continues to happen powered by the gospel.  It is remarkable to be a small part of it! Thank you for considering being a part, too!

Thank you for being such a vital part of our village (and our family growth and transformation) here.

Nothing we do is possible without Christ and all of you, His hands and feet to us!

Much love!