Posted_By: Judy
Date: Saturday, October 28, 2007

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Posted_By: Judy
Date: Saturday, October 27, 2007

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First Snake

Don’t get excited.  After two other trips and fourteen months living here, the green creature slithered across the highway (a paved road with very few potholes) in front of my car.  I was safe inside behind the wheel.  That’s the way I like ‘em. 

The generator is still working and that’s all….

We’ve experienced several miracle healings of illnesses, but the most beautiful was the birth of a baby girl whom doctors insisted on aborting but the Christian mother refused.  A large fibroid tumor was growing in the uterus along with the baby and was causing several problems.  The easy way out would have been to have both the baby and tumor removed.  We prayed for Jane and her baby and now both are doing wonderfully well.  Baby Mercy was quite small, just over 4 lbs., due to lack of womb room, but is catching up.  Your prayers are never a waste of time!

Namgoi is a small village outside of Kapsabet.  The former pastor of the troubled church in Kapsabet, John Rotich, started the Namgoi church right after persecution in Kapsabet sent him away.  They had been meeting in a small room in what was a medical clinic that was converted into six very small living quarters of one and one-half rooms each.  The owner rented out the room where the church had been meeting for several months, but at the same time someone else moved out of another room.  The church moved in there and worshiped for only a few months when that one was rented.  Last Sunday they met in the Glory Hotel next door.  I just packed my camera to take a picture of it tomorrow so you’ll understand the situation.  Henry and I will be attending church there in the morning.  Please pray for this struggling church.  We’ve looked at several pieces of property, but nothing has become available that is suitable.  We had our Thursday afternoon ladies’ Bible study in the home of one of the church members who lives down the road.

We’ve changed direction in the beekeeping program.  Honey Care Africa has not answered my emails since I returned from the U.S., so God answered my prayers of finding another source this past Wednesday.  Right under our noses in Nandi Hills town is a beekeeper, Lordi Mise (pronounced meesay), who is part of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kenya.  Henry, Anna and I met with him, saw the hives they use, and decided to go with his program.  The hives are made at Baraka Agricultural College, a Catholic-sponsored school not far from us.  Mr. Mise is finding out how much the school will charge for building 100 or more hives.  I’m in the process of notifying everyone interested to schedule a meeting so we can organize as a “self-help” group and register with the government to qualify for funding.  Mr. Mise will do the training and show us the whole process from watching the bees work to processing the finished product so it is market ready.  Please continue to pray for this venture.  The people are so thankful for the opportunity to supplement their meager income.

Almost weekly I receive reports of people being saved in our churches and plans are underway to start two more churches in two of the neighboring tea estates.  That’s another answer to prayer.  I’ve been praying for workers in the harvest, and it seems God answered that prayer at Irimis.  An older relative of the young pastor, Peter Bett, moved to the area to help with evangelism there.  We recently asked the pastors to write out their salvation testimony and how they were called to the ministry.  It’s amazing to see that one was a drunkard, was saved and is now one of our best pastors.  Another one’s parents made “African brew” and were drunkards.  He grew up hating Christians but is now a pastor and attending Bible school.  God is working and miraculously changing people by His grace, love and mercy.  We serve an awesome God!

Thank you for your prayers!

Mungu awabariki!

Judy

Posted_By: Judy
Date: Saturday, October 20, 2007

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Miscellaneous

First, Tricia Ngeno’s court date was reset to March.  She has a public defender who isn’t very interested in a “free” case and did not do her homework.  Needless to say, Anna, Tricia and all involved are very disappointed in the US judicial system.  One plus for Tricia was that the children’s father appeared in court drunk.  Thank you for your prayers.  Surely God has better plans to be accomplished in March.

All three generators are now working.  Okello, the electrician who appears here regularly to fix them, said that the large one should be good for ten years because all the parts have been replaced except the engine.  And that’s all I have to say about that.

Meanwhile, I spent most of the day in Eldoret on Friday running errands and dealing with Kenya Power.  I applied for power in April.  Six months later not much has been accomplished.  Two friends, Saina and Okello, have visited their offices frequently trying to push it through the system.  I finally decided to go in person.  After waiting in various offices for a few hours, and then having to wait until everyone returned after lunch hour, it was finally approved by one person and passed on to the next highest and the last one who needs to stamp his approval.  After waiting another thirty minutes, I was told he was out of the office until next week.  To be continued…. 

Two huge drums filled with clothing and toys were sent here preceding the arrival of the mission team from First Baptist Church, Snellville.  I arranged all the clothing by size in the guest bedrooms so that the pastors and their wives could come by and choose an outfit for themselves and their children and pick up some toys.  That took care of all the men’s clothing and most of the children’s clothing.  I took the remaining clothes to John Rotich, pastor of the church in Namgoi, to be distributed to the thirty AIDS widows and numerous children living in that area.  We’re also planning for members of the other churches to donate food items to take to those families.  All the widows are in various stages of HIV/AIDS themselves and are receiving treatment, but eventually there will be many orphans to be cared for.  They need your prayers.

Here’s the latest on the beekeeping project through Honey Care Africa.  We’re waiting on them to set up a training program for us here in Nandi Hills.  We plan to use Cheptabach Primary School because they are located close to a group that has some working hives.  It will be about a 20-minute walk from the school to the hives, but everyone here is used to walking much more than that. 

Last Sunday Henry and I attended church at Kipture, a small settlement outside of Kapsabet, which we had evangelized during a mission trip in 2005.  We were saddened by the fact that the owner of the very rustic wooden structure where they meet had decided to bisect it to provide a place for someone else to use as storage for their business, thereby receiving double the rent.  The faithful members were still thankful to have a place to worship, no matter how small, and we had a good service.  Afterward, they shared with us their plans to purchase some land down the road from where they are presently meeting and we went to view the property.  The stand of corn had just been harvested and someone had planted some beans among the fallen corn stalks.  We are now in the prayerful stage of seeking God’s perfect will for that church.  Please pray with us.

Speaking of Kapsabet, we are still waiting for the Baptist Convention of Kenya to deal with the situation at First Baptist Church there.  The convention has been working with several problem areas, but our church in Kapsabet is next on their list.  It should be happening very soon and will happen in God’s perfect timing.

Thank you, as always, for your prayers!

Mungu awabariki!

Judy

Posted_By: Judy
Date: Saturday, October 13, 2007

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Rain, Mud and Sheep

Last Sunday was memorable.  Since we had just purchased property for the church at Lengut, they invited Henry, Dorcas and I for the Sunday services to celebrate.  It was about a 45-minute drive mostly on dirt roads which had turned to mud because of all the rain.  Close to the church, maybe half a kilometer, I had to park the car because of a huge mud hole that beckoned us to get stuck.  The day we went for the sale of the property I saw the situation, so I brought along my gumboots.  Henry and Dorcas insisted on wearing “Sunday” shoes.  Their feet were soaked and muddy, but mine were dry and clean inside the boots, even after walking in ankle-deep mud, when we arrived at the little rented room that serves as a church and preschool. 

The children’s Sunday School was almost over but there was still time to sing, recite memory verses, and pray.  Then the service began and people filled the tiny room.  It rained the whole time and water filled half the dirt floor of the room, running in through the doorway and filling up the low spots.  Thank the Lord for my boots! 

During testimony time several people told of being saved during the evangelism by the mission team.  After I taught on 2 Chronicles 20 and seeing the number of visitors, I invited those who wanted to know more about Jesus to stay after church.  Ten people remained and prayed the sinners’ prayer to become children of God!  Bwana asa fiwe!  Praise the Lord!

After the service we all went outside (it was only drizzling by then), to take a picture of the church members standing on their new property.  Then I had a surprise.  They presented me with a 9-month-old black male lamb and wanted to put it into my car to take home.  He was drenched and quite dirty, so Henry came to the rescue and explained we had nowhere to keep it at the moment, and asked if we could get it later.  The pastor, Duncan Karinde, offered to bring it to me.

Being a city girl, I was full of questions on the way home.  What do we do with him?  We buy a female and have more sheep.  What do they eat?  Grass.  Can we shear them and sell the wool?  No, they’re not that kind of sheep.  Then what do we do with them?  Sell them for meat.  What about diseases and inoculations?  Don’t worry about that.  (I’ll certainly check with the vet on that one.)  I even asked what his name was.  We don’t name animals to be slaughtered.  End of questions.

Wednesday was a national holiday, Moi Day, named after the second president of Kenya.  It was also a day for prayer in the schools and parents were invited to participate.  Because of those two events, we didn’t have the ladies Bible study at Temso.  And since we didn’t have the Bible study, one of the ladies, Sally Leilei, invited me to her house where there was to be a family gathering. 

Sally and her husband, Joseph, are raising seven children in a two-room house made of mud and sticks.  One room is a living/multi-purpose room, while the other room has beds and cabinets for cooking utensils.  Each room is smaller than the office in my house.  There’s a separate place used for cooking.  While walking on the path to the house, we passed a very small (half the size of my office) mud hut where the second-born son, a high school student, lives.  When boys reach 12 years of age, they are moved out of the family house.  Girls stay home until they’re married, finished school, gone to college or have a job.  Family life has fewer problems with that arrangement.  It also gives more room for the next baby.

Seventeen women were crammed into the living room with little conversations going on everywhere mixed with laughing.  It was just like our groups of women except for the language.  More ladies were out on the front porch trying to stay dry from the rain, while all the men were outside under a rustic, wooden pavilion.  Lunch was rice, potatoes and some kind of meat.  No beans!  Finally all the ladies went out to join the men, where Scriptures were read, people gave testimonies, one man preached, and the oldest family member, who looked to be about 80+ years old, was honored.  It was a very special opportunity to be a part of the life and culture of the Kalenjin, a very warm and gracious group of people.

The generator saga continues.  Both the large and small Chinese diesel generators are not working as of last night.  I’m now using the small gas one left by Bro. Terry to keep the fridge going.  And that’s all I have to say about that.

Thank you for your prayers!

Mungu awabariki!

Judy

The drummer on the left in the Sunday School picture was really good!  He even played for the adult service.  The little boy in the baseball cap in the middle was the best little hand clapper and dancer I've seen at that age.   Isn't my little lamb cute?

 

George and Joseph are terracing the steep slope at the front of the house with rocks to keep the dirt from disappearing.  I'm standing on the cover of the bottom water tank looking up to the house to take the picture.   The church members are standing in front of their church building.  It's not the large building on the right.  You can probably make out a sloping roof behind the people.  That's where the church is.  It's very small.

 

Posted_By: Judy
Date: Saturday, October 6, 2007

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BABY NAMED AFTER ME

About three weeks ago one of Henry’s sisters had a baby girl.  I went to see her in the hospital in Kapsabet and asked what the baby’s name was.  The family said she hadn’t decided on a name yet, and then asked me to name her.  I told them that should be a family decision, so they decided then and there on my name, probably because I drove her to the hospital.  This is not uncommon.  Babies are named for whatever occasion happens to be going on at the time, i.e. holidays; or they’re named for the time they were born, i.e. morning, daytime, nighttime, or tomorrow. 

The Lord is opening up fountains of blessings.  First, my generator has been operating wonderfully since Tuesday, and that’s all I have to say about that.  Secondly, property has become available for two of our newest churches, Setek and Lengut, and more land has been offered to Cheptabach.  Henry and I went to Lengut on Tuesday to finalize the sale with the owner who I led to the Lord along with his wife during one of the evangelism days while the mission team was here.  God blesses the fruit of our labor, and as a result fourteen people will be baptized at Lengut on November 11.  Bwana asa fiwe!  Praise the Lord!

I know I promised a picture of the house and the pastors last week, but God had other plans.  It rained, so the picture wouldn’t have been very pretty.  In fact it has rained every day this week, which is good because the water tanks are staying full.

The process of becoming a non-profit corporation has begun under the name Kenya for Christ.  Paperwork was started while I was in the US and is continuing via email.  God is truly blessing the ministry.  Please keep your prayers going to the throne of heaven to strengthen us all against the enemy who has been working overtime around here.

Mungu awabariki!

Judy