I read this phrase....Faint Not. Fear Not. Fret Not.....just a few days ago and shared it at a meeting on Friday evening. It is such a comfort to know that as we continue in the Lord's work we will reap if we faint not and that God is with us each day, guiding and leading us so that we don't have to fear....and neither should we fret about the past, but look forward to the future, committing our way into His hands. What a lovely promise, even for our own personal lives.
This past week was a bit topsy turvey and I felt like little was accomplished in the office because I had so many places to be. But we thank God for His help and protection as we travelled around. Dad and I were able to attend the resource exhibtion after all, however, we weren't able to make it to the seminar. William and I shared at a very special meeting on Friday evening and were really conscious of the Lord's help. As a special treat, we were able to show some video clips from our recent trip to Kenya as well as the normal powerpoint. These included footage of some the schools we visited and also one of the Churches. It also included myself and William singing together at our anniversary service in Nairobi....and another one of me joining in with some children "dancing" at one of the schools we visited....that clip definitely brought plenty of laughs to the meeting!!!! We thank God for the opportunity of sharing with a group of people who have been so supportive over the years. The Lord helped as I shared from the Bible and William shared our presenation. People have generally been encouraged as they have read our recent prayer letter. We look forward to making the first payment on the land in Nairobi by the end of this month and we are waiting eagerly for news of the first "official" enrollment on our course in Uganda. Already we are beginning to think about our programme for July and to plan what we will be doing. There are never enough days, so we need much wisdom to make the most of the time. Please pray on for our team in Kenya who continue to distribute and mark our lessons. Pray that there will be much enthusiasm among them and that the Lord will help us in all decisions we make. Once more we thank God for a good weekend at the market. It was quieter than the past few weeks, but good nevertheless. We began to give out another CD to those who purchased from us. This one is the testimony of a lady who trained to be a nun, but found peace with God and was born again over 40 years ago. We know that souls came to know the Lord through the CD we gave out regarding the Chilean miners, so we are praying that God will bless this one also. We appreciate the help of those who copied and printed the CDs for us. William has once again been busy preparing the wood for us to sell at the market. It has been a busy Winter. William had a large supply ready for this year and a large amount ready which he thought would see us through most of next year...however, most of that stock is now sold so the pressure is on to get more done. Please pray that he will be helped in all of this very practical ministry and indeed that there will be no accidents. Pray also that William will have enough work of his own to provide financially for him on the days when he is not at the market or preparing for it. We praise God that there are so many ways in which to serve Him....it doesn't always have to be preaching a sermon, but we can serve in very practical ways as this. This week I am hoping to develop a Holiday Bible School programme that I first wrote a number of years ago for a Sunday School in Kenya. It was quite basic, but I am hoping to add to it so that we can produce it and make it available for anyone who would like to use it. I enjoy this sort of work, so I hope I can get the latest email assignments marked and returned so that I can get stuck into this again. Please do continue to pray for us. We have no more meetings booked in until 2nd March and, as always, we would really like more invitations to prayer meetings where men and women alike can learn of our ministry. Thank you so much for standing with us. If you would like more information about any aspect of our work, please don't hesitate to contact us. The email addresses of individual team members can be found on our Meet the Team page and remember, if you are in Kenya, Uganda, the UK or Ireland, we would be delighted to come and share with you.
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Thank you for praying for us over another week. We thank God for His help to myself and William as we shared at meetings on Monday and Friday respectively. We thank Him for the interest shown. On Monday evening the group of ladies I met with said they had a "few" things for our market stall. I was just delighted to see how much....as you can see from the photos below, the car was full coming home; with household items, toys, gift packs, clothes etc. A big thank you to the ladies. We are delighted to have had a really busy weekend at the market, and already quite a number of the new items have been sold. This incoming week promises to be quite busy and I will probably be out of the office most days with appointments and places to be. We have been planning to go to the Christian Resources Exhibition in Belfast on Thursday and to attend a seminar which might be of help in our work, but at the minute it's looking like that might change. I also have a lot of Child Protection courses to mark, so please pray that I can get those completed. William and I have a meeting to speak at on Friday evening and we are conscious that we need much prayer for that. Our latest prayer letter has been emailed and those to groups should have arrived by post while those posted to individuals should arrive within the next couple of days. What an exciting prayer letter it was for us to write! Not only all of the news of our trip just before Christmas....but we have been able to make public our intention to purchase some land in Nairobi where we are trusting God to enable us to put up a purpose built property for our ministry. We thank Him for His leading and for His confirmation to us. We are also excited to announce that Feed My Lambs has moved to Uganda!! The lessons have now arrived there. Please pray for Joyce as she begins to get application forms completed and lessons circulated. We have paid deposits on flights for Kenya in July and all being well we plan to spend a short time in Uganda. These are exciting and challenging days for us and we continue to thank you for standing with us. We know more than ever that we need God to guide us as we follow the challenge He gave us to "enlarge the place of they (our) tent." Last but not least, continue to pray for those connected to us who are unwell at this time. We are heartbroken at the news of yet another person who is dear to us being seriously ill. We trust God for His comfort and leave these precious people in His hands. We thank God for another good weekend at the market. Friday was very cold but trade was surprisingly good. Yesterday was quieter but we still did quite well for the time of year. Yesterday we also enjoyed having a brief conversation with one of our friends who sells at a market in Nairobi....she said it was very hot at her market!....unlike ours!
We thank God that our latest prayer letter has now been completed and printed and tomorrow we will start getting them into envelopes and getting them posted. There are a few bits of exciting news included in it, so we hope it will be an encouragement to all. Remember you can receive it by email, contact us at [email protected] if you would like to be added to our mailing list. Tomorrow evening I will share at a ladies' meeting in Ballygowan, Co.Down and then on Friday evening William will share our presentation at a meeting in Omagh, Co.Tyrone. We value much prayer for these opportunities and trust that the Lord will really bless speakers and listeners alike. Finally we would ask you to pray much for those who have helped us in the work and who are unwell at this time. One person in particular really needs God's grace and strength and we would ask you to pray much for them and their family as they go through these difficult days. Many thanks for your continued prayers for us. May God Bless you so much. We are really thankful to God for how well the market stall in Portadown, N.Ireland has been doing over these past few weeks. January is normally our worst month as the weather is bad and people are counting their pennies after Christmas. However, not only has the mild weather helped to keep people out, but our sales have been excellent since Christmas, especially on Fridays. A large part of this is down to the blocks, coal, turf and firelighters available, but the items on the table have also been doing well. On Friday we sold quite a lot of African items. As we sell, we remember friends of ours in sell in a few different markets in Nairobi and also those we have met in other areas of Kenya. Please continue to pray that the market will continue to be a blessing to our work....not just in raising funds, but more importantly, raising awareness of our work and being a witness to those who lift the Gospel literature and CDs. A special event to be held at the market, is being planned by the local council for a few weeks time. We will know more about it after we have met with representatives from the council.
We thank God for His continued help for our team in Kenya. Continue to pray on for each child who studies on our lessons. We especially ask you to pray for the need for KJV Bibles as we are now need to obtain a large quantity of these. Enquiries to a few sources haven't made much progress as yet. We also ask you to pray for us in the UK as we continue to prepare for meetings we have been asked to speak at over the coming weeks. We are thankful for another booking that came in this week. Thank you for continuing to stand with us. We value your prayers. Thank you for your continued prayers. We are blessed to have a good team of workers who minister alongside us. We would ask you to pray for them. Below is a little update about each of them. Please also remember a few people in Western area who assist us greatly in a similar way. One lady Joyce was involved in an accident with her child and both were still in hospital when we last had news a few days ago. (Please note, this is NOT the same Joyce whose wedding we attended who has the little girl Blessing. This is a different lady).
Pastor Aringo continues to run our office in Nairobi and is busy at the moment preparing lessons for a new area we are introducing the work to. Pray for Jen his wife and their 3 children. Remembering his home Church in Western as they establish a new school and hope to purchase the land next year. Pastor Meshack looks after the lessons in the Kisii area. This week he had planned to meet with those who help him mark in the area. Remember his wife and children and a number of orphans they look after. Moses works in Nakuru and was excited this week as a new centre enrolled 60 children on the course. Moses recently lost a lot of his property in a burglary and would appreciate prayer for that. Dan assists Moses in Nakuru, but is currently in a rural area. Dan is a teacher and also studies himself, pray he will know help. Joyce is busy being a mother and a Pastor's wife, but, after the success of our music CD, is already making plans for another form of outreach involving the children. Pray for her husband Pastor Augustus as he leads his congregation and remember Joyce's sister who was very ill. She is now home from hospital and is making progress...but has a long way to go. Mike is a name we haven't previously mentioned much, but he has been helping Pastor Aringo in the office more regularly lately. Mike and his wfie appreciate prayer. Cecil continues to be top seller at the market and continues to brave the cold on Fridays and Saturdays. He is grateful that the arthritis in his knees hasn't been too bad this Winter and pain has been much less than last year. William has been working extremely hard to keep up our supply of coal, firelighters and turf and has been cutting sticks almost on a daily basis. These are selling so well at the minute at the market he can hardly keep up. An advert in the local paper is proving to be more than worthwhile. As he is self-employed, William also continues to appreciate prayer that there will be plenty of work available for him. Billy and May haven't been able to come to the market over these past weeks as Billy has been unwell. Please pray that he will know God's touch upon him and also that May will know the Lord's blessing. As for me, work on our prayer letter was put aside a little, so that I could prepare for a children's meeting I was sharing at on Friday evening and also so I could send out our next email assignment. I am a little behind in getting the previous assignment returned due to some email problems, but hopefully I can get up to date this week and get the prayer letter in for printing. We are looking forward to what the next few months will bring for us all. On Christmas Eve we were able to put down a deposit for flights to return to Kenya in July and already we are beginning to plan for our programme, including very specific training which I have been asked to conduct for a large denomination there. Please continue to pray that God will bless each and every one of our team and also that God will bless each step that we take in our ministry. We have important decisions to make, problems to overcome, challenges to meet and new ministries to introduce....we need God and much wisdom. Thank you for standing with us. It has been said that there is a "Fear Not" in the Bible for every day of the year. God is with us each day to help us in every situation we face and to encourage us that there is no need to fear as He will help us.
We ask for His help for the family of a young lady from our Church who was tragically killed a car accident and whose husband was seriously injured. As we have just come from her funeral service and saw her greiving family, we know that they can "fear not" the future if they trust God to go with them. On Tuesday we will be attending the funeral of a man who loved the Lord. He was my Sunday School teacher as a child. He taught my older brothers and both nephews, one of which was currently in his Sunday School class. He was a man who was straightforward and honest, who has advised us in a number of situations concerning FML and who stood by us in the minstry and personally when others turned their back. Such a gentleman who had an equally lovely wife who passed away a number of years ago. We pray that his family will "fear not" as they take comfort from the fact that he is with the Lord. What have these deaths got to do with Feed My Lambs? Maybe not very much, except that they remind us of the suddeness of which life can be snatched away and the urgency of bringing the Gospel to the boys and girls. Pray that we will spend and be spent in our labours for the Lord and that we will go forward in God's will and "Fear not" what the future may bring, the trials we may face or the battles we may have to contend with. God is with us and we need "Fear not." We trust you have had a good beginning to the New Year. We in Feed My Lambs are looking forward to lots of new opportunties to minister both here in Northern Ireland and also in Africa. Looking back over 2011 we realise we had a very exciting year with many open doors....I hope we will be able to say the same at the end of this year.
Please pray for Pastor Aringo as he reopens the office in Nairobi and gets lessons prepared for sending to different areas. Pray for the entire team, that they will know God's blessing. Pray for a meeting which is planned for tomorrow in relation to a new place for our office. We are trusting God that this will go ahead as planned with no obstacles. Hopefully we will have some more definite news for you soon. We enjoyed sharing at a meeting on Wednesday night and showing the presentation from our recent trip for the first time. We trust that all who listened were encouraged to hear what God has been doing and challenged to pray for the ministry in the days to come. The market here in Portadown reopened on Friday and yesterday following the Christmas/New Year break. We were encouraged with sales on both days in what is normally a very quiet month. This week we hope to start preparing a new prayer letter which we know you will be excited to read as it will share lots of news from our recent trip. If you are not already on our mailing list you can request to be added by emailing me at [email protected] and you can then receive the news by email or post. Please do continue to pray for the country of Kenya as a whole as it remains on security alert because of threats of a terriost attack. We realise this was the case before we went there, but some media coverage over the past few days seems to have brought it more to the attention of people here in the UK. We thank God for people around the world who are praying for us. Click on the flag counter at the bottom of our home page to see some of the countries who have visited this site. On behalf of everyone in Feed My Lambs, may I wish you a Happy New Year. We thank God for His goodness to us over 2011. He has answered prayer in so many ways, both in the ministry and also personally. We thank God for allowing us to travel to Kenya again and for giving us such a blessed time. We value your prayers so much and appreciate the part they have played in our lives over this past year. May I encourage you to continue to keep the children of Africa upon your heart and to begin this New Year with God.
On behalf of all involved in Feed My Lambs Children's Ministry both in the UK and in Africa, I would like to wish you a very Blessed Christmas. Thank you so much for your prayers for the work of God over another year. In the hussle and bustle of your Christmas shopping, please take a few seconds to think about the children of Kenya. Just lift your mobile and text LAMB12 £5 to 70070. We will receive 100% of what you give and we can assure you that a few pounds will go a long way. It is only one more small gift on your list....TEXT NOW!
Photos of our recent trip coming soon....see some of the children that your gift will help! Thank you so much for praying for us over the past 3 weeks, even though I haven't managed to update the blog very frequently. We are now back home again in Northern Ireland and are just thanking God for His hand upon us throughout our time in Kenya. We have come back to very cold weather and would just love to be returning!
We look forward to updating you with news of our trip over the coming weeks and of course we'll be sharing some photos. We were blessed to be able to share the Christmas story with many children; William was able to make desks for a school and Dad presenting Bibles was just one little part of our special anniversary service. We have made good progress concerning an office, though in different circumstances to what we had originally thought. We are just waiting on some paperwork to be finalised and then we will be able to share more details. At the beginning of the year we will be sending out our next prayer letter. Please email [email protected] if you would like to be added to our mailing list....either by post or email. Please pray for us as we adjust back into routine here in the UK. I have a meeting on Monday evening and then William and I will take a meeting on Tuesday, then we have our next clothes collection on Wednesday. So already we are busy and have to work hard to prepare a new presentation for the meetings. Pray that God would keep His hand upon us as we travel. Thank you once again for your prayers. God led, provided and blesse |
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August 2022
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