So often working with children is seen as being fun and we often share stories and photos of lovely little boys and girls. However, this week, the reality and urgency of sharing the Gospel with children has hit us as we received some very sad news from a school we work very closely with in Kenya....a school where the children have studied our lessons and attended our children's rallies in the past. As I read the email I received from the Principal, I realised that his words explain best the events of the past week..... (I have omitted some names to protect the identity of the children. Many Thanks to the Head Teacher for giving me permission to share all that you will see beloe)
"Hi Sister Pamela, Virginia's funeral ceremony took place on Monday. She was buried at one of the cemetery in xxxxxxx County as it was proposed by her relatives and the "school" staff. The ceremony was so sorrowful and unbelievable. The staff and children were shocked as such incident has never happened in our school. Virginia was born twin with her brother xxxxxxxx. In their family this boy was serious shocked as they grew together and they have been going to school together. I have attached some few burial photos. The 1st photo is for late Virginia which was taken at school at last year. The 2rd photo is for her twin brother, the 3rd photo is for some students and some staff taken with Virginia's guardians surrounding Virginia's coffin,the 4th photo is for some students and some staff taken surrounding Virginia's grave, the 5th photo is for Madam xxxxxx taken with a student at the grave who was Virginia's deskmate. Many students were very weak and many were not taken in photos. There was much tears and some children fainted due to shock. We all love Virginia but God loved her much and that's why he chose her. Thank you for your condolence message. It really comforted us. May her soul rest in peace. Amen" (click on the photos below to enlarge them)
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Thank you so much for your prayers over another week.
As we look forward to this incoming week we are planning for the "Country Comes to Town" event which will take place in our town on Saturday. This will see many people visit and we trust that the FML stall will do well. We hope that more people will become aware of our ministry as a result of this day. We also appreciate prayer for a children's meeting on Thursday evening. It is always a privilege to bring the Gospel to boys and girls. Also this week we will be preparing more books in order that they may be transported to Kenya and eventually some will go on into Uganda. Later this month Pastor Aringo hopes to visit a number of areas where we minster in Kenya. We would also like him to make a trip to Uganda for a few days to see the work there. These trips are important as it gives an opportunity for him to meet with the representatives in the areas. New markers are also needed in a few areas so we hope he can train workers for that task also. All of this continues to be vital to the ministry and ensures that it runs on smoothly while we are here in UK Please pray that God will provide the needed finance to enable these trips to take place, also that we may soon be able to confirm flights. Finances have been low over the summer months and we are praying that God will provide for us to move ahead with some new plans as we enter the winter season. As always we continue to value your prayers for us that we may know wisdom and His guidance day by day. Well, what a week it has been. On a personal note, I had my last full days with my nephews as one went back to school after the holidays and the other will go back this week. William started a new job, which we feel was a real answer to prayer, and dad met an old friend at the missionary convention who he hadn't seen in nearly 40 years! But of course, the week was very much tied up with missionary convention itself and all which that involved.
William and I arrived on Monday afternoon to set up our stand. In addition to the notice board and banner with photos, we had our lessons on display, a power point presentation running, our cd and kenyan items for sale and plenty of free literature, pens and dvds to distribute...all in an effort to raise awareness of the work of FML. You can view the presentation we had looping on our HOME page. I was there every evening with Dad coming on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and William returned on Thursday and Friday evenings. We thank God for everyone who stopped at our stand and who were interested to know about the ministry in Kenya and Uganda. Much interest was shown. We were booked to bring our stand to another missionary convention later in the year and also to speak to children in a Sunday School, so we were very encouraged with this. It was also great to meet up with other missionary friends whom we have come to know in the past as well as to meet new friends. Our aim for the week was that many people would learn about the work we are involved in, but without doubt, we learnt things too and were reminded of lessons from the past. The message was there to continue to do God's work, through the hard times and through the joys and we were challenged to do more for the Lord and for the work of FML. New ideas have been impressed upon our hearts by the Lord in regard to making the work known and we trust Him for wisdom as we seek to implement them. Our desire to return to Kenya remains, but throughout the week we became more conscious of the necessity of us travelling to Uganda to see the work there. We are praying that this will soon be possible. We were encouraged, through quite shocking circumstances, to always take our stand for the Lord and the standards of His word, without being ashamed or embarrassed. We saw much throughout the week... we talked to many people... we have read literature and watched dvds from other organisations... we were challenged and shocked, encouraged and saddened.... but we had a great time, learnt much and have a desire to continue whole heartedly with the work HE has called us to do. These past few days we have been reminded to lift up our eyes unto the fields. There is certainly much work to do in God's harvest field and we pray that we may be faithful labourers for Him.
Please continue to pray for the children in Kenya who are completing our Bible Lessons. We have been told that around 150 will have completed the entire course by the end of September and are already asking "What next?". Please pray that we will be guided as we consider the next step for these children. We now have to prepare certificates for them and make a few other arrangements. It is our prayer that we can continue to minster to these young people and not just let them go when the course is completed. We want to continue to nurture them and to be a witness and a support to them. We are looking forward to heading to the missionary convention tomorrow and will return every evening this week, so it will be a busy number of days for us. We will have an information stand with plenty of photos, information and literature for distribution. We look forward to sharing our work with those who attend. There are quite a few last minute preparations to be done tomorrow morning, so we do appreciate prayer for that. We have prepared a small update on the work over the past year to bring to the missionary convention, so that people we met last year can see what God has been doing. It has been a blessing to us as we prepared it and give thanks to God for what He has been doing in FML. It has certainly been another fruitful and exciting year. Sometimes, we don't notice it as we go along, but when we look back we are humbled by just how much God has done. We continue to value your prayers and ask you to remember us in the coming days. William and I were able to go through everything for the Missionary Convention which we will be at during the last week of August. We have sorted out leaflets and prayer cards etc. and ordered the items we need more of. A few photos onto disc and a final change to the notice board and we'll be ready. We are looking forward to the opportunity to share our ministry again and to renew fellowship with other missionary friends.
We thank God for His continued help each day and we trust Him for continued wisdom in every situation we face. We often face quite big decisions and it is then we realise just how much we need Him. But we don't want to forget Him in the small things either! Please pray that God will open many more opportunities to share our ministry in Church meetings, both with adults and children. Please contact us if you are interested to have someone share with you in Northern Ireland, Kenya or Uganda. We would specifically ask prayer for us as we prepare for a number of events that we will be involved in over the coming weeks.
The Bangor Worldwide Missionary Convention will take place every evening during the last week of August. We will have a stand at this. We enjoyed our time there last year and are looking forward to returning. We want to prepare a few new handouts for our stand this year especially in regard to our new field of service in Uganda. Also at the end of August we have opportunity to travel to an event in England. We would really like to attend this, but are having difficulty getting transport arranged as times and prices aren't in our favour at the moment with both flights and the ferry. Please pray that God will open up this door for us if it is His will. Otherwise we may plan for next year. On the third Saturday in September it will be the annual Country Comes to Town event in my home town where our market stall is based. It is always a busy day for us. We are planning a few additional things this year and are considering how to go about this. Pray for guidance. All of these events are good opportunities for us to share about our ministry and raise awareness of it. Please pray that God will use these We thank God for His blessings over another week and we thank you so much for praying for the needs mentioned in our last post. God provided the Ksh 18000 (£150) which we needed to urgently send to Kenya. We were also able to send off a cheque for the Bibles which are available in Nairobi; including the extra which we had not originally counted upon. God willing, Pastor Aringo will collect these Bibles this week.
I had an encouraging conversation by phone this week with Pastor Aringo and we give God the glory for how the work is continuing. Another new centre has enrolled just outside of Nairobi and another enquiry received from Uganda. We heard the story of how a Pastor in Uganda received a number of our lessons for the children but somehow managed to loose them. However, someone else found them, saw Pastor Aringo's phone number on the lessons and contacted him to say he had them. We are thankful that they did this and these lessons were not wasted. We are hoping that Pastor Aringo may be able to travel to Uganda in the near future to visit Joyce and see the work there. He also intends to travel to Western province very soon to present some Bibles. With our lessons being more accessible now, many children in Kenya are nearing the end of the complete course and are asking, "What next?"..... Please pray that God will guide us very definitely regarding follow up and introducing new ministries. Please pray on for Joyce as she visits the centres in Uganda each month. Remembering also our other representatives in Kenya, praying that God will bless each one. There are a couple of men who assist Pastor Aringo in our office in Nairobi. Please pray for one of them who was injured this week when a block fell from a height as he passed a building site and hit him as he walked by. He was rushed to hospital but has since been discharged, but still needs our prayer for complete healing. We have been looking at flights and various dates this week and are praying about when our next trip should be. We would love to get something finalised very soon and ask you to pray that God will provide and guide. We know that His timing is perfect and we can see some very clear reasons as to why we did not end up travelling in July. We know it was for the best. The market here in Northern Ireland was busier this weekend as people begin to return from their holidays. We trust that things will gradually pick up. Another assignment was emailed out this week in our email child protection course. Please pray for our students as they continue to learn. Thank you for praying for our Pastor friend whose situation we mentioned in our last post. The family have been able to bury their loved one, though they still remain with some financial need as a result. God is so faithful and we just thank Him for His continued grace and mercy to us. Please continue to pray for the salvation of boys and girls. Thank you for your continued prayers throughout another week. Dad and I enjoyed a few days away in England....our first holiday in quite a long time! William also had some time off with his family.
The market was open as usual, though it was very quiet with a lot of people still away on holiday. We have received the teaching materials we had mentioned last week and are delighted with them. We know they will be of good use in Africa. Today we received some really good news regarding Bibles. A large quantity will be available very soon for collection in Kenya and we won't have to wait for a few months to have them shipped as originally anticipated. More Bibles are available in Kenya than what we have funds for, so we are praying that God will make up the small shortfall and enable us to get the extra. We have another urgent need in Kenya at the moment and are praying that God will provide very definitely for this requirement. The amount needed is around £150 (Ksh 18000) and we would ask you to pray that this is provided as soon as possible. Some members of our team and friends in Kenya are in financial need at the moment too because of illness etc. We are so thankful that God knows all about this and we leave it with Him to provide for each individual and family. I am looking forward to being back into the office this week in the evenings and pray for God's guidance for all we need to do over the coming weeks. We need to do some preparation for the Missionary Convention we will attend at the end of August in regard to publicity material and information about our work. We also are looking forward to working on our own teaching materials and the next assignment in our email course is due to be sent out. Please continue to pray that God will lead and guide in the coming days. We thank God for the news of another 150 children starting our lessons this week in Western province, Kenya. We pray for the salvation of these children.
We are grateful that someone has offered to give us some teaching materials that they have no need of. We look forward to be able to bring these to Africa. The market reopened this weekend again after the holidays. It was a quieter weekend than normal as many people are still away, but we thank God for His help. We give God thanks for His hand upon those we mentioned who have been sick. We were able to enjoy visits to my uncle and to Billy this week and thank God for His continued help. William's grandmother is still in hospital but has made some improvement. Joyce's little girl Blessing was very sick, but God has touched her and Pastor Aringo is delighted that his wife and son are feeling better after being very unwell all week. Please also continue to remember Joyce's sister Dorine. We are conscious that sometimes the devil can use sickness among our loves ones and friends to bring pressure and to distract from the work of God. Being unwell is a massive pressure for any family, but we especially remember our brothers and sisters in Kenya and Uganda....to be sick there means a huge fianancial burden. Please remember the needs. Please pray for a Pastor friend of ours from a Church in Kibera slums. He lost his neice on 27th June, but as of a few days ago, the family had still not been able to bury her because of lack of finance. This a huge pressure on the family. We have faced this situation many times with many of our friends and ask you to pray for them. This past week we have been able to see in a small way, one reason why God has kept us at home at the minute rather than having been in Kenya. We feel that He has been in control of situations that we knew nothing about. Pray that we will continue to know His leading. We have often been conscious of those who have sought, by dishonest means, to gain money from us or just simply to try and bring the ministry down. Time and time again God has revealed to us what has been going on, and we have again realised this week that some people have been up to no good. Pray that God will continue to give us much wisdom and discernment so that the work of God does not suffer at the hands of sinful men. I am looking forward to having a few days off this week before we open the stall again on Friday. August will be a busy month as we hope to get stuck in to developing our teaching materials and working alongside the artist from Kenya. Please remember our email course. The latest assignment is due to be submitted now by the students and the next one will be sent out at the beginning of the month. We are also looking forward to being at the Bangor Missionary Convention during the last week of August and ask for your prayers as we prepare leaflets and information for our stand over the next few weeks. We also continue to pray for wisdom as we make big decisions and seek God's will regarding the purchase of the land in Kenya. We know that God will not lead us down a wrong path. Thank you once more for your prayers. We appreciate your support more than words can say. It has been a strange week for us here in Northern Ireland. Some disappointment that we are not in Africa, yet knowing that God has a reason for it. I haven't been in the office as such, but have still been doing some FML work and my head has at times been spinning with facts, figures, information and excitment as we plan for the future. We continue to be ready to head to Kenya at short notice over the next few weeks, but failing that I will be working less hours this week and will take all of the following week off.
The market was closed this weekend past due to the holidays, but will reopen this coming Friday 20th and Saturday 21st again as normal. Please continue to pray that God will provide every need. We have had a number of gifts designated to Bibles etc. and we are delighted with this, but we now have some allowances, office rent and other things due and are asking that you remember these needs in your prayers also. Our hearts are heavy at the moment for those dear to us who are unwell. My uncle, dad's brother, remains stable for the moment yet his illness is terminal. Billy, who helped on the stall along with his wife and has been one of our main prayer supporters, is having great difficulty with his breathing and needs our prayers. William's maternal grandmother has also taken ill and I am sure the family would appreciate prayer for her too. Earlier today I read these words from Corrie Ten Boom...“When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.” What a timely reminder to us to keep trusting the Lord as we go through times of uncertainty, sickness and testing. God is faithful. |
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August 2022
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