Time is passing so quickly. William and I are were married 3 months at the weekend. We are enjoying married life and serving God together.
In Feed my Lambs we are planning ahead and looking well into 2015 with a number of meetings booked and different projects in our minds. We value your prayers for the coming months. Last Wednesday we enjoyed sharing at a ladies' meeting and were very encouraged with the interest shown. There was a promise of some materials for our library in Kenya, some ladies offered to knit some items to send out to Africa and others showed interest in providing Bibles for the children who complete our lessons. Pray that God will continue to work in hearts and keep the interest alive. Over the course of the next week, William and I will speak at a house meeting and also a ladies' meeting. Because of the nature of the meetings and when we last visited each of them, we will require two new powerpoint presentations to be put together this week and each of us will have to prepare a short message. Please remember us as we prepare. The "to do" list in the office is quite long this week and we value your prayers for these everyday tasks. Remember William as he continues with his Bible College course. Please pray for Joyce and the work in Uganda. I have been trying to call her over a number of days and the network has not been good. Hopefully I will be able to speak to her tomorrow. Remember our students as they finish off their assignments. Pray that they will not run out of steam at the last hurdle! We are hopeful that new opportunities may be opening up here in Northern Ireland and also concerning new materials. We hope we can update you in more detail as time goes on, but for now we appreciate your prayers for open doors. Our office in Nairobi now has a new worker called Eunice. She had dealings with her during our recent trip and we appreciate her work very much. Please remember her. Also Pastor Aringo, Moses and others who serve God in the work. This Wednesday we will have another clothes collection here in Northern Ireland. This is a great way for prayer partners to dispose of things they no longer need and Feed my Lambs is paid cash in return. Please consider helping in this way if you can and do not hesitate to contact us for more details.
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We always appreciate prayer for us as we share in meetings regarding the work of FML. Our team in Kenya and Uganda have opportunities to do this and really value your support for them as they introduce others to the ministry. Here in Northern Ireland, William and I also appreciate you holding us up before the Lord as doors are opened for us to share about FML and God's work in Africa. This week we have a booking for a ladies' meeting and another few meetings are in the diary for the month of November. It will be a busy few weeks. We are thankful for bookings that are steadily coming in for next year; with another one today.
Please continue to remember the various aspects of the work. The Bible Lessons which are circulating across Kenya and Uganda among thousands of children. The volunteers who mark these lessons. Those who evangelise and teach the Word of God to the boys and girls. The administration work which takes place in our offices. The writing of training courses. The procedure of coming up with new ideas and initiatives, praying them through and then putting them into practice. The plans for future trips; from the UK to Africa and for the local people on the ground as they travel also. Remembering also our new library facility as it is promoted. The email course is another ministry and we would ask you to pray for the students currently enrolled as they are at the stage of completing final assignments. We trust certificates will be awarded in January following completion of assignments and marking by the end of the year. As the school year draws to a close in Kenya in particular, please pray for the young people who are sitting exams in the coming days. Today I have been specifically asked by a School Principal in Nairobi to remember the few individual students in his school who started their final national exams today which will enable them to join High School. Please pray for Caleb, Hosea, two called Kevin and Vivian. Please also remember the ongoing financial needs of the work. God is faithful in supplying. Pray concerning a few needs which are pressing at the moment including rent for our Nairobi office. Thank you for your ongoing prayers. Another week in God's work. A busy week, but much accomplished.
Joyce travelled to Jinja in Uganda and had an encouraging time there meeting with those who are involved in the work of FML and whose children are enrolled on our lessons. Also she met with others who wish to begin partnership. We thank God for a safe journey for her. Our office in Nairobi had visitors and we were encouraged with a new Church having enrolled children and beginning the Bible Lessons for the first time. As always, lessons continued to be marked. William and I had our first meetings since returning from Kenya. We visited a Church and were encouraged by the interest shown. I shared a powerpoint presentation with the children of the Sunday School, giving them an idea of what life is like for a Kenyan child as well as explaining some of the work we do. The Sunday School have committed to having Feed my Lambs as their missionary project for this year and we look forward to updating them and keeping them informed as the weeks go by. We were encouraged by the questions the children were asking and really enjoyed being with them. We are also grateful to the teachers who will be encouraging the children in the project. During the main morning Church service, William was given the opportunity to share another short presentation which gave a brief overview of the ministry of Feed my Lambs and helped put all in the picture as to the work we do. We are thankful for such a good opportunity. We have much to do this week. Meetings will begin next week and we have a few over the incoming month. A new presentation of our latest trip needs to be prepared. We also are hoping to issue another prayer letter very soon. Please continue to remember us in prayer and indeed the whole team and ministry of FML. So we have now been home for over one week. There is always a lot to digest after returning from Africa. Reflecting on the trip just past and also looking ahead in the work and indeed to future trips. Please pray for us as we process everything we have seen, heard and discussed during our time away and please pray that we will know guidance for the days ahead.
We are now enrolling once more for our email Child Protection course which will begin again in January. To find out more, please have a look by clicking on the link or contact us for more details. If you would like to go ahead, please complete the registration form. Find out more here. This incoming weekend we will be sharing about the work of FML at a Sunday School followed by a Church service. This is a new opening for us and we appreciate the opportunity and the interest shown. Please pray for us as we prepare over the next few days and travel there on Sunday. William and I are back home in Northern Ireland after our short mission trip to Kenya. We would like to thank those of you who prayed for us. We knew the Lord's protection as we travelled and are very thankful that we enjoyed good health.
It was a blessing to us to share in Sunday Services and to teach in Schools. What an encouragement to return to one school we taught in last year and hear them sing the choruses we taught them then. We spent many long hours carrying out very practical yet very necessary work in our office, all of which we hope will make life easier for those who work there and also benefit the ministry at large. New procedures have put in place and we are excited that we have launched a new outreach to our ministry. A lending library is now in operation. Based in our Nairobi office, it offers teaching materials and visuals to Churches and indeed Schools. Currently it can provide weekly lessons for 110 groups for around two and a half years. In addition, other books are available which we hope will be helpful to children's workers. We hope to add to the library over time. Pray for this new ministry in these early days. We will have much more to share with you; including photos; over the coming weeks. For now, we just want to thank you so much for standing with us in prayer. We appreciate your support very much. We thank God for His blessings to us over another week. Our trip to Kenya is drawing closer and we thank Him for His leading and guiding. We are looking forward to ministering for the Lord among the boys and girls and also practically in the office. We are looking forward to returning to schools we have previously visited and also we will possibly visit some Bible Clubs. Some practical work in the office and also meetings with our workers to review the past and discuss the way ahead are on the agenda. Please pray much.
We also ask for your prayers for us as we travel. For safety throughout the journey. For good health with no sickness. For provision for all of our needs while we are there. If you would like to donate to the trip, you can do so via the home page of this site or contact us to find out other ways to donate. There are many needs in addition to the normal running of the work, there will be the office work, donations, accommodation, car hire etc. We need the Lord's provision in so many areas but we step out in faith knowing that the Lord will continue to provide for us as He has done in the past. Pray that we will know the Lord's help in these final days of preparation. We thank God for those who will stay in our home while we are gone and we thank Him that our times are in His hands. Today, William and I (Pamela) are married for one month. Time has just flown. It has been a special few weeks for us as we have settled into married life. It is lovely to have someone to read and pray with every day; someone to discuss things with; someone to share the decisions with. Yet we are both so conscious that there is a third person in our marriage....the Lord. He is our Head and the one whom we depend upon. The one who guides, leads and provides. We are thankful for how the Lord brought us both together and has kept us over the years since we first met. We are excited that God has called us both into His service and we look forward with great anticipation to our future in the work of The Lord. We are very aware that we have a great responsibility in leading the work and so we very much need your prayers for us in the coming days. There are many decisions to be made. Sometimes it is difficult to know the right way to handle things or the right thing to do but we know that God will guide if we seek Him. Thank you for your prayers for us in days past....continue to remember us in the days to come.
Thank you for your prayers for us over the past week as we had the FML stand at the Missionary Convention. After discussions with other missionaries who also had stands there, it was fair to say that many of us reached the conclusion that generally the interest in the stands was much less this year in comparison to other years. For whatever reason, there were fewer stands and also fewer people coming in to view them after the meetings. Based on this and previous years we are considering whether or not to return next year or whether to take a break for a year and then return. Please pray that we will know guidance over the coming year.
We thank God for another booking for a meeting for next year, but still we have gaps and are available for the incoming winter season. We are encouraged that we have bookings for a number of new venues where we have never been, but we still would like more opportunities. Please pray to this end. September is now upon us. Again a month of mixed emotions for us. We are looking forward to what the month hold for FML, but we are conscious that September last year was when dad (Cecil) was diagnosed with cancer and passed away very soon afterwards. It has been a long year in one sense, yet it has flown by in another sense. Please pray for us as a family over the next few weeks as we approach the 1st anniversary. Praise God He is with the Lord. We have a few deadlines to meet over the next few weeks with regard to FML projects which we need to complete. Please pray that the Lord will enable us and again will guide and give wisdom. Thank you once more for your continued prayers for us. We appreciate your prayers for us this week as we have the FML stand at the Bangor Worldwide Missionary Convention. Please pray that this will be a good opportunity for us and for the organisation. It is a good opportunity to raise awareness of the ministry in Kenya and Uganda and we are encouraged when new people sign up for our prayer letter and also there have been occasions when we have received invitations to speak at meetings as a result of the convention. This is our 4th year to be there. It is our first year and indeed first FML engagements as a married couple, but also this is the first year we won't have my dad as part of the team and he is greatly missed. Please pray that we will know the Lord's help as we go through another week of mixed emotions. Pray that we will be encouraged by the interest in the work.
Also at this time we would like you to pray for our team in Kenya and Uganda. There are some who we feel need monthly support and would ask you to consider giving regularly to this need...even a small amount. Without them the work would not continue while we are in Northern Ireland. Thank you for your ongoing support. Well last week's blog was missed and that's because we (William and Pamela) were on honeymoon. God blessed us with a lovely wedding day on Friday 8th August. We felt His presence not only from beginning to end on the day, but also in the months preceding the day. We thank Him for His provision which enabled everything to be paid without the need for loans and we are so encouraged at how He provides when you are in His will. We are now looking forward to this new chapter in our lives as Mr and Mrs Aiken. Not only a new married couple, but a united couple in the Lord's work. Our eyes are now upon our next trip to Kenya and we ask for your prayers for us over the coming weeks as we settle in our new routine and prepare for our next trip.
We can definitely say that "God is with us" and we thank Him for bringing us together...even through the ministry of FML. Our first duty in the work as a married couple will be next week when we have our annual stand at the Bangor Worldwide Missionary Convention. Please pray for good openings and opportunities. Thank you to all who prayed for our wedding. We hope you enjoy looking at some of the photos below which were taken by our photographer on the day, Jim Lee. We hope these photos will give you a little glimpse into our special day. |
Read on for...regular updates and thoughts from Northern Ireland and Africa... Archives
August 2022
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