Water Is Life
By Mike Tenbusch | December 31, 2020 Have you ever lain in bed at night trying to figure out how to pay a bill? Only to fall asleep and keep waking up with that bill on your mind as the peace of sleep gets overtaken by the anger of insufficiency. It’s a horrible,...
What’s the Worst Problem You’ve had at Work?
By Mike Tenbusch | December 4, 2020 There are a couple of lessons I learned early in life, and each came at some pretty painful personal expense. The first is that you have to change the oil in your car, especially if your car is really old and leaks oil. I learned...
Keep On Getting Better
By Mike Tenbusch | November 19, 2020 One of the unique features of International Samaritan is the faithfulness of the families who have been giving to the mission—and leading it—since our inception over a quarter century ago. We have only had three board chairs in...
What Inspires Us to Good
By Mike Tenbusch | November 5, 2020 While we in the US wait patiently for election results, our friends across the world are confronting different challenges. Hurricane Eta has pummeled Nicaragua and Honduras since Tuesday afternoon. Driving rains and rising rivers...
Why Angelica Runs
By Mike Tenbusch | September 29, 2020 For over 12 years now, Angelica Cancinos has been the conscience of our work through her leadership of our Paso a Paso scholarship program in Guatemala. I met with her in Guatemala before taking this position, and the power of...
Why He Walks
By Mike Tenbusch | September 24, 2020 Last week I shared a reflection on life from one of our scholars to give you inspiration for why we are running the IntSamGlobal5k. You may have been thinking, “That’s great for them, but there’s no way I’m going to be able...
Why We Run
By Mike Tenbusch | September 2, 2020 I was stunned last week when Selam Terefe sent me the winning entry of the essay contest she organized for our scholars in Ethiopia. Azeb (pictured above), one of our 9th grade scholarship students, wrote: What is the Perfect...
A Race for Karen and You
By Mike Tenbusch | August 26, 2020 Ever since the pandemic hit in March, our board has committed to ensuring that no family in any one of the nine communities in which we work in five nations will go hungry. The International Samaritan community worldwide has helped...
A Fight for Water and Life
By Mike Tenbusch | July 24, 2020 Ethiopia has been in a battle of biblical proportions over the last few weeks. I’m writing you about it to ask that you keep our team, scholarship students and families close in your prayers.Hachalu Hundessa, a much loved singer and...
Run Your Race
By Mike Tenbusch | July 09, 2020 On a frigid, November morning in 1984, butterflies swarmed through my stomach as I lined up with 80 other boys in nylon shorts and tank tops waiting for the gun to sound and the Cross Country State Championship race to begin. I was...
The Surprising Impact of Sheltering in Small and Confined Spaces
By Mike Tenbusch | June 19, 2020 One of my favorite scriptures is when Jesus says, “The thief comes only to steal, slaughter, and destroy. I’ve come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” I can’t help but think of this image when I hear stories about how...
In Memory of George Floyd
We have a unique community here at International Samaritan that is made up of 3,000 people across the United States and indeed across the world who have the heart of a Samaritan. We are instruments of change, and we are needed now more than ever. Our hearts grieve...
