Our newest African Missionaries

Uprooting their lives at this stage in life might seem like a radical thing to do. But for Williston residents, Wes and Kathy Pepple, it’s a perfectly rational thing to do when you feel a tug at your heart to help people.

It just so happens that helping people meant traveling halfway around the globe to East Africa and signing on to be missionaries at the diocesan African Mission in Kenya. Wes, 62, and Kathy, 59, arrived on Dec. 7. Father David Morman and Rogers Osoro, who oversee the Mission on behalf of the diocese, traveled the 6-hour trip from the Mission to the airport in Nairobi to pick them up.

Most people wonder what inspired these two to pursue a “second career” as missionaries. For Wes and Kathy, the seeds of charity were planted early in their lives, and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to answer the call where there is great need. The diocesan African Mission, in existence since 1990, currently supports over 400 AIDS orphans with food, educational needs and medical care.

“From an early age I saw my parents give what they could but also to help others out,” Wes explained. “One event that has always stuck out in my mind was my mother's giving of quilts to an elementary school in inner city Denver. She did this for several years. What was special was to see the joy not just in the children's faces but in my mom's face.”

Seeing the benefits for both the needy and those doing the giving stuck with Wes all his life and when the opportunity arose to travel to Guatemala with a group of students and adults from their parish in 2008 to construct homes for five families, he jumped at it.

“We also had the opportunity to help at an orphanage playing with the children and holding infants; it broke your heart to see these infants, but the young ones also brought smiles to your face as you engaged in games with them—the laughter and giggles of children is the best! It was a very humbling and eye-opening experience for me.”

Kathy had a similar experience where charity was important from a young age.

“From an early age, giving of yourself for others was instilled in me,” she said. “I saw my parents and others in my home parish at St. Bernard’s in Belfield sacrifice a lot to provide the means to build a Catholic grade school, pay tuition, pay for a school bus and driver, provide meat and other produce for the sisters that taught the children, etc. This was a very early example of sacrifice and giving. I didn't realize it at the time, but I did when we sent our sons to St. Joseph’s Catholic grade school here in Williston.”

After some years of living in Williston, Kathy became involved in youth ministry at St. Joseph’s Parish there helping to plan monthly activities for the junior high youth. Like Wes, she also noted the service trip to Guatemala to work with the God's Child Project that greatly impacted their lives.

“We took 14 youth and 13 adults to construct five homes and to experience how much of our world lives which is in poverty. It was an eye-opening and humbling experience for all of us and for me personally opened a new world to which I had never experienced on that level. It was heart-wrenching to see the children not have the same advantages that my own children do in the way of just the necessities in life: food, shelter, clothing, education, etc. This was a special trip for me because Wes and our two sons were able to go and together were able to experience this as a family.”

It wasn’t until years later when both Wes and Kathy sat in their parish and watched the diocesan videos about the African Mission that they both, unbeknownst to each other, heard the call to help once again.

Wes said that numerous times he remembered thinking that someday would like to try to venture to the African Mission though he never said anything to Kathy. “After a few years of watching these videos at church together, Kathy asked me if I would ever consider going to the mission in Kenya. It was at that moment that we realized we were both thinking the same thing!”

Kathy added, “I believe that God places people, events and circumstances in our lives every moment of every day and all have a purpose in His plan for each one of us. He loves us first and calls us to love others.”

Visiting the mission twice

The couple visited the diocesan African Mission in May of 2018 and then again in November of 2019, each time for three weeks. During the first visit, they worked on the Water with Blessings pilot project—a project that trains local women to provide clean water for cooking, drinking and bathing small children with the use of a simple filter and a bucket.

It was during this training when Kathy had a profound moment. “I can still recall very clearly the moment when an elderly woman who was caring for her grandchildren came up to me to embrace me and, in her broken English and with tears in her eyes said, ‘Tell people who give filter thank you.’ It was an emotional moment as I experienced her gratitude for the gift of clean water—something I take for granted. I never had to worry that my children might die at a young age because of lack of clean water.”

The 2019 trip, included fellow Williston resident, Liz Bustad, was focused on ways to develop and expand on the health program for the orphans with the goal of having “wellness clinics” for the orphans 2-3 times per year.

During both trips, they experienced the orphan education program. On Mission Saturday, they witnessed first-hand it’s impact. The children come to receive a monthly allotment of maize, a small stipend, and for Fr. David to visit with them about their report card and to provide words of encouragement and praise as well as reminding others they need to step up their efforts. For some, it may be the only time they receive these words of encouragement.

The trips also provided an opportunity to accompany Fr. Morman on his visits to the outstations to celebrate Mass with the local people. Kathy explained, “People would come up to us, point to Fr. David and ask, ‘Are you with Bismarck?’ To these people, Fr. David represents Bismarck and Bismarck gives them hope, it tells them that people halfway around the world care about them and that they are not alone. Something else that has also stayed with us is the great joy they express despite their poverty—a lesson for all.”

In addition, they were inspired by the immense faith of the local people. Kathy added, “This was very evident to us when we attended Mass. Since there are no vehicles, they may walk up to several miles to attend Mass and once they got there, they participated with their whole being and gave their full attention to every word spoken. When they came forward at offertory to give something whether it be a coin(s), chicken, produce, etc., it reminded us of the widow in the Bible who gave her two coins— she trusted in God and gave from her heart and out of her poverty—all is a gift, and they give back to God from their poverty.”

Asked to be missionaries

These two trips to the African Mission provided Wes and Kathy with enough inspiration to consider giving of themselves full time to make a difference. Kathy said she can remember the specific moment after their first trip to Africa, when Chuck Reichert, the director of the diocesan African Mission, asked them if they would ever consider becoming missionaries and serve at the Mission in Kenya.

“Up to this point, I was only thinking about it but once the question was asked, it put things on another level,” she said. “A favorite quote of mine comes from the late Francis Cardinal George who said, ‘The only thing we take with us when we die is what we have given away.’ After much prayer and discernment, we said yes to give of ourselves in this place and time in our journey as husband and wife—open to God asking us to be His heart, voice and hands serving at the Mission in Kenya.”

It wasn’t an easy decision, but they are both confident it was the right one. Family members and friends have questioned their decision, but once they explained what they will be doing, people lent words of encouragement and appreciation. “In the end, we feel blessed to be able to do this and we also feel somewhat guilty that we have been given the opportunity to do this,” Kathy noted. “Yes, we have given up some things and put plans on hold for a few years, but we trust that God has better plans for us—far better than we could ever have come up.”

Three-year commitment

Wes and Kathy have committed to serving until December 2024. Their youngest son sold his home and will live in his parents’ home during their missionary time. There were many other things to get in order such as leaving their jobs, renewing passports, immunizations, paperwork, legal matters, etc., but because they’ve done the planning over 5-6 months, they say it was not overwhelming. 

Since arriving, they assisted at a Mission Saturday event and enjoyed the annual Mission Christmas party for the children where they have guest speakers and can receive a goat, chicken, oil, flour, etc. based on their grades. They will spend Christmas at the Mission and then after Jan. 1, Fr. David will take them back to Nairobi to attend language school for three months to learn Swahili. The language school is located at the Consolata Language Center—the compound that houses an international community of Consolata priests, sisters, seminarians and others. They will attend daily Mass then class in the mornings Monday through Friday. There are three levels of 140 hours each with each level working on speaking, writing and reading.

Once language school is complete, they will head back to the Mission and begin to get a handle on the different programs and develop their specific roles. It’s likely that Kathy would work closely with Lilian, the local woman employed by the Mission, on the water filter project. Wes would be learning the ropes of the Mission’s heifer and housing programs.

“We envision ourselves taking on a more prominent role in some of these programs to relieve Fr. David as he currently wears many hats in addition to saying Mass at the outstations every weekend,” Kathy explained. “In the end, we pray to be open to whatever is asked of us and to do them as Mother Teresa says, ‘We can do no great things, only small things with great love.’”