This week I have been reminded of the verse in John chapter 10 verse 4 which says, "And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice." As we have been making so many preparations for our trip to Africa, we have become very conscious that God has gone before us. So many things have come together in amazing ways. Programmes have been planned and arranged without too many hiccups. Accommodation booked in 6 different places. Many things prepaid and we now have the balance for the car hire too! God has gone before. Without doubt, this has been one of the easiest trips to organise. Some of the usual "stresses" have not been present this time and things that have frustrated us in the past have been ironed out as we have communicated with people in Kenya and Uganda regarding our trip. Reduced luggage was of concern but with some cases sent ahead and other items coming with us, we are perhaps bringing more than normal. Perhaps we are becoming more familiar with all that is involved with a trip of this type. Perhaps we are more aware of what is expected of us and have had time to consider the obstacles we would face. Maybe we are just becoming more familiar with the logistics of the country and the travelling involved....or....perhaps it is simply that God has gone before.
Going away for a number of weeks involves planning for what is left behind. Our home, the market stall and even the pet rabbit. Yet, God has gone before. We have people who will watch our house and stay in it; some good friends will watch the stall for us and even the rabbit is going on holiday! God has gone before in these very practical things. As our trip gets nearer and nearer each one of us have numerous things to get done. William will be working around the clock to get his work up to date before travelling and he has a sermon to prepare. Dad has all of his medication sorted out; which is alot; and will also make final preparations as he will be speaking about the ministry on our first Sunday in Kenya. I just have a million things in my head and many things to finalise..... but in everything we are conscious that God has gone before. Please pray that He will continue to go before us in every aspect of our trip. MISSION TRIP PRAYER LIST: - Pray that God will continue to go before us - Take a moment to THANK GOD for what HE has done so far! -Guidance as to which donated items to bring on this occasion - Provision of Bibles for presentation during our trip - Meeting with School staff regarding building project - Protection against the attacks of the enemy -Teaching and Preaching preparation before we travel - Teacher training in Kisumu in partnership with Kenyan Church - Exploratory Farming trip - Safety and good health for the long flights - Our time and ministry in Uganda - The need of £1800 to secure our hire car - Meeting with markers and teachers in Nakuru - Practical Work in Office - Workers' Meeting
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For many weeks now we have been asking you to pray for our forthcoming mission trip to Kenya and Uganda and have been sharing a prayer point each week. We have been so conscious of people remembering us in prayer and we have been aware of answers to those prayers. This week, I thought I would pick out a few of the prayer points and bring you an update on each situation and how God has been answering.
The need of £1800 to secure our hire car The deposit was paid on time and we thank God for that. The balance is due soon. We are over £500 short at the moment. Our time and ministry in Uganda God has really been helping in the arrangements for Uganda. It is an unknown territory for us but we are excited. The training schedule for the adults has been completed and the children's programme has been arranged and final teaching preparation will be done this incoming week. Safety and good health for the long flights We continue to pray to this end. Medication and vaccinations have all been checked and thankfully none of us needed any vaccinations. Malaria tablets will be started soon. Teacher training in Kisumu in partnership with Kenyan Church The timetable has been sent off to the organisers so they can have a look at it, but largely we are ready for this seminar with the exception of some handouts which need to be prepared. Guidance as to which donated items to bring on this occasion Two suitcases have now been sent on ahead of us and we have decided upon most of what we will take with us. We hope it will all fit in and still be within the weight allowance. Please continue to pray for the needs above and the others mentioned over the past weeks. Most of all, please take a moment to thank God for what He has already done and for being with us in every detail. MISSION TRIP PRAYER LIST: - Take a moment to THANK GOD for what HE has done so far! -Guidance as to which donated items to bring on this occasion - Provision of Bibles for presentation during our trip - Meeting with School staff regarding building project - Protection against the attacks of the enemy -Teaching and Preaching preparation before we travel - Teacher training in Kisumu in partnership with Kenyan Church - Exploratory Farming trip - Safety and good health for the long flights - Our time and ministry in Uganda - The need of £1800 to secure our hire car - Meeting with markers and teachers in Nakuru - Practical Work in Office - Workers' Meeting We had a good weekend at the market. It was busier than normal for the time of year. We thank God for His continued provision in this way.
Pastor Aringo travelled a few days ago to Western Kenya. We have a large number of children studying our lessons in that part of the country and we continue to pray for their salvation. We are encouraged to receive our first booking for a meeting in 2014. We look forward to many more opportunities to share our work over the coming months. If you know of any Church who like to hear more please don't hesitate to contact us. We are looking forward to having stands at a 5 day missionary convention in August and a 3 day convention in September. MISSION TRIP FOCUS: We are always thankful to those who donate items to the work of FML. Many items are for selling at the stall, but we also receive items to bring to Kenya. The airline has decreased our baggage allowance for our next trip. We did enquire about adding to it but it was proving difficult because of the terms of our ticket. We have sent one case on ahead of us and another will be sent next week. We will also bring what we can in our own cases, but, unfortunately we will be unable to bring everything that has been given to us. Please pray that we will be guided in what to bring and what to leave for a future date. MISSION TRIP PRAYER LIST: - Guidance as to which donated items to bring on this occasion - Provision of Bibles for presentation during our trip - Meeting with School staff regarding building project - Protection against the attacks of the enemy -Teaching and Preaching preparation before we travel - Teacher training in Kisumu in partnership with Kenyan Church - Exploratory Farming trip - Safety and good health for the long flights - Our time and ministry in Uganda - The need of £1800 to secure our hire car - Meeting with markers and teachers in Nakuru - Practical Work in Office - Workers' Meeting Apologies that our blog is a little later this week. Life is busy at the moment.
We have now received all of the sketches for our first set of visuals and are very impressed. We look forward to approving these with a few minor changes and then we will await the coloured visuals to come through. Our teaching programmes for our trip our now being arranged in greater detail and we are excited about what lies ahead over the coming weeks. We thank God for Government schools in Nakuru who are responding favourably to our team going in to teach the Gospel. We pray for wisdom concerning this. The Child Protection email course continues with students currently working on Assignment 6 out of 10. The standard of work has been high and the committment has been encouraging. We hope that further courses will be available to them and others. We have a full programme over the coming weeks and appreciate prayer for all we do. Our latest clothes/textile collection brought us in just over £428 and we give God the glory for this. MISSION TRIP FOCUS: With children ready for Bibles we are hoping to present some when we are in Africa. We have very few left in stock. Please pray that God will provide for us to obtain more while we are there. We are also keen to make the first Bible presentation in Uganda and are trusting we will be able to bring some copies of the Word of God with us to that country. MISSION TRIP PRAYER LIST: - Provision of Bibles for presentation during our trip - Meeting with School staff regarding building project - Protection against the attacks of the enemy -Teaching and Preaching preparation before we travel - Teacher training in Kisumu in partnership with Kenyan Church - Exploratory Farming trip - Safety and good health for the long flights - Our time and ministry in Uganda - The need of £1800 to secure our hire car - Meeting with markers and teachers in Nakuru - Practical Work in Office - Workers' Meeting Another new month begins and we give God the glory for the gift of each new day. Last night I enjoyed speaking at the Children's Day service in a Church in Bangor, Northern Ireland...about 1 hour's drive from my home. I thank God for each child who took part and for so many parents who came into the service. We are delighted that some children recently received certificates for completing all 30 of our Bible lessons. Also, they were presented with Bible Story books. Other children also received Bibles and pencils. The photos below show just a handful of these children. Marking continues in the office and life is busy in Nairobi as lessons are distributed across many areas of Kenya and into Uganda.
There is much enthusiasm in Nakuru as the school ministry grows and other ideas for outreach are discussed. In Uganda planning for our trip is well underway and we are excited to visit this new area. God has been answering prayer and providing for our financial needs. On Friday we were able to send the deposit to secure the booking of the hire car. We had asked for prayer concerning this, but we hadn't shared the deadline as being the end of May. We were amazed to watch the needed funds come in over the final few days. We continue to pray that God will provide the balance needed. We have no doubt that He will. We were delighted and excited to receive the first few initial sketches from the Kenyan artist who is Please continue to pray for the students who are studying on our Child Protection Email course. Some are from Kenya and some from Uganda. The standard has been very high and Assignment 6 will be sent to them today. There are 10 Assignments in total. Pray for us as we develop more teaching in this way. Tomorrow (Tuesday) William and I will attend a day conference for Christian workers. The speaker will be a man of God from Nigeria. We have attended this seminar over the past few years and are looking forward to being blessed, encouraged and challenged once more. MISSION TRIP FOCUS: We are considering a small practical/building project for the future in a School in Kenya. During our next trip we will be meeting with the Principal and staff of the school to discuss this in further detail. Please pray for us all as we meet. Pray that God will give us clear direction over the coming weeks as we think about what will be discussed. MISSION TRIP PRAYER LIST: - Meeting with School staff regarding building project - Protection against the attacks of the enemy -Teaching and Preaching preparation before we travel - Teacher training in Kisumu in partnership with Kenyan Church - Exploratory Farming trip - Safety and good health for the long flights - Our time and ministry in Uganda - The need of £1800 to secure our hire car - Meeting with markers and teachers in Nakuru - Practical Work in Office - Workers' Meeting Well it has been another busy week. It was one of those weeks that I wondered what we would ever do without email, facebook chat and mobile phones. They bring Kenya and Uganda to our doorstep and allow us to be so involved in the work that is happening there day by day. On one day alone I was speaking to 7 different Kenyans in various parts of the country via Facebook chat and was communicating with yet more via other methods. We thank God for how this technology can be used for good.
This past week we have been looking at getting new letterheads and compliment slips designed and are looking forward to seeing the finished product. New IDs were also designed for our workers in Kenya, though only one has received it as yet. We are working on getting the remaining photos and details through to our printer in Nairobi who is working on these for us. It was really exciting to be able to submit a script of a Bible Lesson to a Kenyan artist we have come into contact with. This is with a view to FML producing our own visuals and teaching materials. The artist is very good at communicating with me and has been busily working away with first sketches due to be with me tomorrow God willing. Can't wait! Big progress in one area that we work in. Permission has been granted by the local council for our representative to visit government schools in the area and share the Gospel through our various programmes. We are just waiting on the written confirmation from the official in charge and then we will be able to share more details with you....but our representative in the area is very confident that all is approved. I have also received some photos of children who have completed all 30 of our Bible Lessons. I will share these with you next time. At home in Northern Ireland, the market was quite busy on Friday and we thank God for that. We had a rare one day closure on Saturday but will be back again this weekend. I, (Pamela) will be speaking at a children's day service this Sunday Evening when we trust many children and parents will be gathered in under the sound of the Gospel. I appreciate your prayers for preparation over the next few days and for the meeting itself.....especially as I ended up with the Doctor this morning because of a throat infection!!! I certainly need a voice for Sunday. This week, as we seek to walk with the Lord and do His will in our lives and in the work of FML....we have yet again been conscious that the devil can sometimes use people and circumstances to unsettle us and cause distraction from the work. Whilst technology can be used for good as I mentioned at the beginining of this blog, it can also be used by those who wish to cause mischief. We thank and Praise God that such things cannot harm us, as when others may mean things for evil, God can use it for good. MISSION TRIP FOCUS: We carry that last thought into our mission trip focus for this week. We realise that as the work prospers and moves on and more opportunities are opened up to us; the devil will be busy. When he sees us move closer to God in our own personal lives, he will seek to pull us back. The devil will chip away at the very foundations of our lives and of the work. We thank God that He is able and stronger than satan and sin. Please pray for us as we prepare for our trip, that the devil will be defeated in every attack that he contemplates and that we will have that discernment to know when circumstances and situations are from the enemy and that we will resist them in the name of Jesus. MISSION TRIP PRAYER LIST: - Protection against the attacks of the enemy -Teaching and Preaching preparation before we travel - Teacher training in Kisumu in partnership with Kenyan Church - Exploratory Farming trip - Safety and good health for the long flights - Our time and ministry in Uganda - The need of £1800 to secure our hire car - Meeting with markers and teachers in Nakuru - Practical Work in Office - Workers' Meeting It seems that I start each blog by thanking you for your prayers throughout another week. It might seem a little repetitive, but we really do mean it. Without your prayers the work of FML would not continue and it is the most vital part of the witness to the boys and girls. We would like to thank those of you who have donated to our Bible text appeal. By sending a simple text message, you can give a gift towards purchasing copies of the Word of God. We have been asking people to give just £2. Simply text WORD13 £2 to 70070. It's as simple as that. We have no way of knowing who has donated, so thank you to those who have already given or to those of you who intend to donate. You can also give online via paypal by clicking the donate tab at the bottom of the home page of this website. For other ways of giving or to also sign up for gift aid, please contact me. We are delighted that Every Home Crusade/Revival Movement have confirmed to us that more of our lessons will be printed and included in their next container to Kenya which will most likely leave in a couple of months time. We are also delighted that CEF materials which were included in the last container have now been received in our office. We were disappointed that our baggage allowance has been decreased by the airline and that we will only be able to bring one case each on our next trip rather than the normal two. There was an option to bring an extra case, but it would have meant adjustments to our ticket and different policies with the two different airlines was adding to the confusion, so whilst we wanted to bring the additional materials, knitted hats etc. we didn't have a peace about the procedures involved. However, God always has a plan which is better than ours. Already we have been able to send a full suitcase on ahead. The photos below show William getting it packed. I was speaking to Pastor Aringo by phone yesterday and he has already received the case which is shown in the photos.....and the good news is that we already have another one packed and ready to go. It should also be there before we arrive. As you can see, we make sure that the cases are packed to full capacity. God is good. MISSION TRIP FOCUS: It has suddenly dawned on us the amount of teaching preparation which needs to be done before we travel. The "to do" list is very long! During our time in Uganda we will have a full programme with children. This will involve a Bible lesson, singing, memory verse, quiz, games, etc. All of these need to be prepared before we leave the UK and that includes putting together our own worksheets. All three of us (myself, my dad and William) will be involved in this teaching and also Pastor Aringo and Joyce will be involved with the programme. There will also be a 3 day club held in a school in Nairobi which will involve all of the above times 3. A lot of the Nairobi teaching will fall to myself with some help from dad as William and Pastor Aringo hope to be doing some practical work in the office at that stage. We also have Sunday Schools to teach in and one off Bible lessons to share in most centres we visit. Dad and William will also be responsible for sharing about the work and preaching in a Church service the day after our arrival in Kenya, so pray for them both as they prepare their sermons! In addition we need much wisdom in preparing for a meeting with a school regarding a future building project and also for preparing the agenda for a meeting with our workers. Each worker will report on the outreach in their area and we will plan and share our vision for the future of the work. So, the focus this week, is to ask you to pray for all of the teaching and preaching preparation which needs to be done over the coming weeks.
MISSION TRIP PRAYER LIST: - Teaching and Preaching preparation before we travel - Teacher training in Kisumu in partnership with Kenyan Church - Exploratory Farming trip - Safety and good health for the long flights - Our time and ministry in Uganda - The need of £1800 to secure our hire car - Meeting with markers and teachers in Nakuru - Practical Work in Office - Workers' Meeting This week we were reminded of just why we bring the Gospel to boys and girls. Beatrice is a dear friend of ours. She teaches children each Saturday in a slum area of Nairobi and uses our materials. She recently lost her grandmother. This week, she sent us the following email telling us about one little boy who has been studying our lessons. "I again had a sad moment in my life last week i lost one of my sweetest bible club boy called Bernard through an accident they were playing near a ditch that has water and the boy drowned we were with him in the bible club on Saturday of 27th April 2013 singing yes Jesus loves me!and he escorted me telling me sorry for loosing my grandmother and one thing he asked me did my granny know Jesus i said Yes Ben then he said then she is in a safe place as you always teach us teacher Beatrice!i will never forget this conversation! and he drowned on 28th April 2013 we buried him on 3rd May it was so sad but i know he is in a better place as i told you i run the bible clubs on Saturdays and the boy is in my newest bible club which is in a slum called Ngomongo-Njathaini i started this one in January this year now i have 120 children plus the githurai one that has100 it totals to 220 children.The boy who died was 8 years old but very active and am glad i started the bible club in this slum because he gave his life to Christ the first day of the bible club. In the photo he isthe one with the smile, standing next to the boy with a white cap on his head he is in the striped blue, red, yellow and black Tshirt." MISSION TRIP FOCUS: During our next trip we will spend some time in Kisumu. One such day will involve conducting training for some children's workers from a large denomination in Kenya with which we have a close relationship. We are looking forward very much to this opportunity. Please pray for myself (Pamela) as I shortly work out the timetable for the day and then begin putting the actual training together. I appreciate prayer for this.
MISSION TRIP PRAYER LIST: - Teacher training in Kisumu in partnership with Kenyan Church - Exploratory Farming trip - Safety and good health for the long flights - Our time and ministry in Uganda - The need of £1800 to secure our hire car - Meeting with markers and teachers in Nakuru - Practical Work in Office - Workers' Meeting This past week has just flown in and has been very busy. We thank God for His help. We have issued our latest prayer letter and are very thankful for those who stand with us in prayer. We have still a few individual letters to post, but by and large most have been posted or emailed by now. We are excited to hear of new children starting our lessons in Uganda. The photos below show Joyce introducing our course to children in one area of the country. This week was also busy for myself and my dad Cecil as we had a stand in a local shopping centre here in Northern Ireland. We are thankful for the opportunity to promote and raise awareness of the work of Feed My Lambs. Our mission trip is drawing ever closer and we will be packing a case over the next few days which will be sent on ahead of us. There is so much to bring out it will be quite a task to decide what to include in this shipment.
May I remind you once more of the great financial need we have in order to secure the booking of the hire car. We urgently need funds for this and ask that you prayerfully consider helping in this way. MISSION TRIP FOCUS: This week we are asking you to pray for a special day trip we have planned. We will accompany a local in Kenya to visit farm projects which they have implemented. This is of particular interest to William who comes from a farming background. We hope it will be a day of learning and we will come away with much food for thought and ideas to consider. We are thankful to the one who has agreed to give their time to accompany us on this trip. MISSION TRIP PRAYER LIST: - Exploratory Farming trip - Safety and good health for the long flights - Our time and ministry in Uganda - The need of £1800 to secure our hire car - Meeting with markers and teachers in Nakuru - Practical Work in Office - Workers' Meeting The news from Nakuru regarding the children's rally last Saturday was just so encouraging. The expected number of children was 400 so, in anticipation of more children arriving, 520 plastic cups were bought for juice. These were not enough! With such a crowd it was difficult for Moses and the team to obtain exact numbers, but it is estimated that between 550 and 600 children attended. Much time was spent in singing and children from various Churches were able to participate themselves and sing for the other children. Moses taught the Bible Lesson of the Trial, Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus and the Gospel was clearly shared through this. The memory verse taught was 1 Corinthians 15 : 3. Altogether 11 Churches brought children along with a total of 19 teachers who were able to assist the FML team during the games as the children were divided into 4 age groups. They ranged in age from Class 3 and below right up to Secondary School age. As we have experienced previously in Kenya, the sight of so many children playing organised games usually attracts many more children from the neighbourhood and this was again the case at this rally. As a result of the rally and the work of FML being explained; 6 new Churches have enrolled their children onto on our course and they will shortly begin the Bible Lessons. We thank God so much for this. We thank Moses and the team for all of the effort they put into the day and we thank God most of all for each little life He brought along and also for keeping the rain away. This in itself was an answer to prayer. Please remember the team there as they get all of the new children enrolled and started on the lessons. Pray that we will see much fruit as a result of this outreach. Photos of the rally can be seen at the bottom of this post. Here in Northern Ireland, we would ask you to pray for us as we have a stand in The High Street Mall, Portadown this coming Wednesday 1st May. We appreciate you remembering us. Please come along and say hello if you are in the area. Our latest prayer letter has also just been received from the printer here. If you would like a copy sent to you by email or by post, please email [email protected] with your details. If you need multiple copies to share in your Church, please feel free to let me know. Before looking at the photos of the children's rally; please take a moment to read through our latest prayer request for our next trip and remind yourself of the previous and ongoing prayer points regarding our programme. MISSION TRIP FOCUS: Our prayer request this week is something very practical. We would simply like you to remember the time we will spend in the air and at airports. Pray for safety, good health and the energy and even patience that will be needed. We will have a flight from Belfast, Northern Ireland to Manchester in England. This will take around 1 hour. On our way, we will then have a 5 hour stop over in Manchester before taking a 7 hour flight to Doha. A quick stop of less than 2 hours and we will then take a further 5 hour flight to Nairobi, Kenya. The return journey will be similar timings but with a shorter stopover in Manchester. Two stops this time instead of the normal one stop means a considerably longer journey and around 4 to 5 hours extra flying time. This is the one part of our trip that none of us are looking forward to because it will be so much longer than normal. We will leave home around 5am (UK time) on the morning of our departure and will arrive in Nairobi at around 4.30am (UK time) the following morning and then we will travel to our hotel. So it will be over 24 hours from we leave our home until we reach our accommodation. So different to the times when we left home in the morning and were in Kenya in time for bed later that night. Unfortunately changes in airline routes have made things a lot more complicated for us. We simply ask you to pray for the long journey and ask God to go before us each step of the way. MISSION TRIP PRAYER LIST: - Safety and good health for the long flights - Our time and ministry in Uganda - The need of £1800 to secure our hire car - Meeting with markers and teachers in Nakuru - Practical Work in Office - Workers' Meeting We hope you will enjoy looking at the photos below from the Children's Rally in Nakuru on Saturday 20th April 2013. |
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August 2022
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