5. Mission and Outreach

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance — Hurricane Harvey Relief Efforts

Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. —Song of Solomon 8:7

Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas coast late Friday, bringing lashing rain and sustained winds of 130 miles per hour. Even as its force has waned, Harvey has brought historic flooding, forcing rivers and streams from their banks, submerging homes, churches, businesses and roads, stranding thousands of people.

Rev. Jonathan Britt, Associate Pastor at St. Thomas Presbyterian Church in Houston, is a friend of Pastor Becky’s from Seminary. Here is his message about how we can help:

“Many of you have been asking how to help. This is one organization we will be working with in the coming months and years.

“Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is committed to long-term recovery. It’s the less sexy work that will be going on for years to come. This is one way to help our city bounce back. They will be in Houston long after the cameras leave and the news moves on. It’s this kind of work that’s important and necessary long after the heart and minds of the nation has other things to think about. Thank you.”

Pastor Kimberly has also had first-hand experience with PDA after Hurricane Sandy. “They were there the minute it was safe and they were there long after everyone else who came to help had left.”

If you want to help the people in Houston and the surrounding areas with flood relief, please consider giving to Presbyterian Disaster Relief.

You can give with a credit card by visiting presbyterianmission.org/GIVE-HARVEY or by phone at 800-872-3283.

You can also put a special offering in our plate here at UPC on Sundays. You can write Hurricane Harvey in the memo line and we will get it to PDA.


Fresh Start Program and Mission-Funded Staff

We continue to offer opportunities to individuals in our community who are in need of “on the job” training in order to reenter the work force. Our Fresh Start program provides funding for Community Meal staff, Welcome Desk receptionists, and custodial staff.

A testimonial about the Fresh Start program from our Community Meal Team 2 leader, Kathy Preston: “It has been my pleasure to have worked with two amazing young ladies from our Fresh Start program. I have been blessed to have them work with me at the Community Meal on Tuesday nights. They have certainly helped make the meals run smoothly: serving drinks and meals, clean up, and dishwashing are all very important to the overall nights activities. Now they have found employment elsewhere and I will miss them. This program is so important to see the potential in people and be part of giving them a chance—not only for employment, but also helping build respect for themselves and knowing that they are important to society. Thank you for this program and for being able to work with great people.”

In the coming months, we will be laying the groundwork for a more robust Fresh Start program as we move forward. If you are interested in being part of the conversation, we’d love to hear from you.

Carolyn Cummings, Missionary in Kenya

Carolyn has been serving with Africa Inland Mission in Kenya for almost 28 years. She started out as a Bible school teacher, then became the Children’s Ministry Facilitator for the Mission. She is now an administrator in the office that covers Kenya and Tanzania. She takes care of the office administration, contingency planning, project administration, and unit leadership for the missionaries working in Eastern Kenya. On weekends, she has a Bible club for teenage boys from a large slum area in Nairobi.

Recent news from Carolyn (August 2, 2017):

Dear Friends,

I have been very pampered the last 3 weeks by two lovely ladies from Taiwan who are visiting Kenya on a short-term mission and are staying with me while visiting with one of our outreach teams. Every evening when I have come home, I’ve been greeted by amazing scents wafting from my kitchen (mainly of garlic and ginger… yum!). Bonnie and Faith have taken very good care of me these weeks, and I’ve so enjoyed finding out how great REAL Chinese food is! After tomorrow, the girls will move on and I will be back to fending for myself (pasta again, how boring).

Next week on August 8 there will be elections in Kenya. Please pray that the voting will go smoothly and there will be peace when the winner is announced. It’s been a bit dicey in the run-up to the voting, and the head guy of the IT team running the electronic voting system was murdered this past weekend. Don’t know why, and the electoral commission says his loss won’t hurt anything (except his poor family), but there is a lot of tension. I am on the contingency team that has to make decisions on how to keep our people safe. What a responsibility! But I know that with so many prayers going upwards for us, we will get through this coming week. I may be out of contact because if things get bad, the network and cell towers will be shut down. But WhatsApp still works, and I’m sure the networks will be brought back quickly.

Thanks for lifting this request up. I will let you know how things go.

Peace, Carolyn

Bonnie and Faith making dumplings in my kitchen.


The finished product, ready for the pot. (I actually helped stuff and pinch them.)

Update, August 29:

The elections did not cause much unrest, except in some parts of Nairobi and in the home town of the losing candidate. Unfortunately, one area that was affected was Kibera, the slum where the boys of my soccer team live. They are all okay but lived through some very tense and scary times.

Now the losing candidate has contested the election results to the Supreme Court. The announcement of the ruling is expected on Friday, September 1. The loser has said that if the Court does not rule in his favor, he will call on his supporters to demonstrate. If the Court does rule in his favor, it means the elections would have to be held again. That would be very difficult for the country.

I am praying that the Court will uphold the election results (the incumbent president won by over 10% of the vote) and that people will be too tired of political chaos to bother to demonstrate. There may be trouble in pockets of the country and Nairobi, but hopefully the police will keep it contained, as they did after the elections (although a bit brutally).

This means that the coming weekend is another one of tension, and we have asked our staff and workers to stick close to home through the weekend.

Thanks for praying with us.

Carolyn