We are delighted that we have arrived safely in Kenya. The Lord has really been helping us and we thank Him for His goodness to us.
So far we have visted 2 schools, 1 Church and 1 Sunday School and have enjoyed teaching the Christmas story to the children. We have received a warm welcome. We were challenged when we visited a school in a slum area and found many children who had been rescued from a life on the nearby rubbish tip. It was in this slum area that many were killed and injured a few months ago due to a pipeline accident. Our search for a new office continues. We were humbled to see so many boxes of lessons in our office from Every Home Crusade. Such a blessing to our ministry...but reminding us again that we really need a bigger property. We have viewed a few possible places and will go to see another possible place today. Please continue to pray for our safety, especially on these busy roads and that we will remain in good health. William and my dad are keeping well and also continue a
0 Comments
We were delighted with the coverage of our Anniversary Meeting in our local newspaper here in Portadown this weekend. The article gave a clear insight into our special meeting as well as into the work of Feed My Lambs in general. The CD was also well promoted with a photo of the cover being included along with a photo of the congregation at the meeting and one of myself, dad, William and a special little visitor who joined with us that evening.
Never before have we had so many people comment to us about an article concerning the work and we are delighted to have had new customers at the stall as a result of seeing the coverage in the paper. We thank God for evey opportunity to share His work and for the open doors He has given us. Please continue to pray for the work in Kenya and all of the needs we have. Remember the students on the email course as Assignment 4 will be sent out in the next few days. Remember Pastor Aringo and the other team members as they continue to work with us. They all need your prayers as they labour among the children. We are thankful for some new bookings which have come in for meetings in the New Year and we would like to remind you that we are happy to come and share of our work in your Church or House meeting or School, here in Northern Ireland or in Kenya. Please keep praying that God will lead, guide and provide every financial need we have in these days. Please pray for Pastor Aringo and his wife Jen, as Jen's brother passed away last week. The burial took place on Saturday 29 October. Pray for the family and those who had to travel a long distance to be at the burial.
Please pray for Moses who works with us in Nakuru. He buried his step-father on Friday 28 October. Remember his mother and the family circle. Continue to pray for Joyce, whose sister remains seriously ill in hospital. With ever increasing medical bills, the pressure continues on the family. Please pray for our dear friends as they suffer and hurt at this time. Remember their family members, especially those who do not know the Lord as Saviour. Though we are thousands of miles apart we thank God that He knows each and every one and can meet their needs at this time. We thank God for a really encouraging 5th Anniversary Meeting on Friday evening. A good number attended and some had travelled quite a distance to be with us. We were also delighted to have a Kenyan and his children join us.
Memories were brought back as we shared a presentation of the past 5 years and we were humbled to see how the work has grown and how God has opened doors for us. We also shared some of our plans for our next trip to Kenya and indeed a little of our vision for the future. Rev Johnston brought a challenging word from Scripture about serving the Lord and Mrs Kathryn Mitchell ministered in song through 3 challenging peices. Our CD of Kenyan children singing Gospel songs, mainly in English, is now available and can be ordered by emailing [email protected] or contacting any other member of the team. Alternatively, call or text +44 07711 644209. It will also be possible to order and pay online within the next few days. A big thank you to those who made the effort to join us on Friday evening. Your support was much appreciated. We look forward to what God has for us in the next 5 years! We also thank God for His help at two other meetings during the last week and we look to Him to continue to bless. We are looking forward to a special week. We hope you are planning to join us for our anniversary service on Friday evening....if not, please do pray for us. Plans are well underway but there are still a lot of practical things to be sorted, especially on the day itself. We are thankful to God for His help so far and are trusting Him for His continued blessing in all of the preparations and for the meeting itself.
Please also remember a ladies' meeting which I will speak at tomorrow evening (Monday) and also a missionary meeting which William and I will both share at on Thursday evening. Preparations for these two meetings add to what is already a busy week. The market will also be open as normal on Friday and Saturday. Please continue to remember the work in Kenya and all of the children who are studying our lessons. We give God thanks for all of His goodness and continue to trust After months of planning, it is so hard to believe that our special anniversary meeting is now less than 2 weeks away. We are so excited, yet nervous, as we plan for this event. Most of all we are praying that it will be a God glorifying night when we will give thanks to God for His faithfulness and that as a result of this meeting souls will be saved and the Christians will be challenged about service for the Lord.
Please remember Mr Johnston as he seeks the Lord over these days in regard to the message he should bring. Also, pray for Kathryn as she prepares her peices. We have total peace that both of these servants of the Lord are God's choice for the night. We trust you will enjoy the special powerpoint presentation reflecting on the past 5 years and looking forward to the future. Also, we are really excited to finally be able to put our CD on sale....you will not be disappointed! Pray for us in all of the practical arrangements, of which there are many. We have so much to do over this week and next in the lead up to the meeting; more invites to give out, orders of service to print, literature and CDs to sort, chairs to set out to name but just a few of the many tasks which have to be completed....we seem to have a long list. We are really praying for a good turnout so please pray much for every aspect of this meeting and make every effort to come and bring others with you if you live in Northern Ireland. We would be delighted to see you there. Full details can be found on our home page. 1 Boys and girls in Kenya as they study the Bible Lessons and God's hand
upon the container as it makes it's way to Nairobi. 2 Those children who have received Bibles, that they may get to know the Word of God. 3 Children who are saved, that they may know the guidance from the Lord. 4 Our team of workers in Kenya; Pastor Aringo and those who help him in the office, Pastor Meshack, Joyce, Dan and Moses 5 The volunteers who mark our lessons 6 My dad Cecil as well as Billy and May who help with the market stall. That this will continue to be an outreach which will see souls saved. 7 William and myself as we continue to lead the work, that we would have wisdom in all decisions 8 FML anniversary meeting on 21 October. For help with all of the planning and for a good number to attend. 9 Our trip in November; for God's help in all of the preparation, for a safe journey and for every need to be supplied 10 Guidance for the future and to know God's presence and leading in every step we take. The Word of God says that there is joy in the presence of the angels of Heaven when one sinner repents. Well we believe there must be great joy in Heaven as we have received news of TWO people who have trusted the Lord. On Saturday a lady visited our market stall and lifted some of our free Gospel CDs. She then went on to explain how she had got some of the CDs before and was playing them in her car as she travelled. As a result two people came to know the Lord as their Saviour! We thank God for this and. From the Pastor who preached the sermon, to our friends who printed and copied the CD to ourselves who placed it out on the stall for distribution.....each have been a link in the chain that has led to two people being saved.
There have been many ups and downs in the work of FML. There have been many cold days standing at the stall and many days when we didn't take in much money. There have been those who have disagreed with this form of outreach and those who thought we were wasting our time....BUT this news has made it all worthwhile and shown us that everything we have experienced has been well worth it. We give God thanks and trust that He will continue to lead and guide these new converts. What better present for us in FML, in this our 5th anniversary year! The Country Comes to Town event was a great success as far as our stall was concerned and we brought in a good amount financially in addition to hearing the good news mentioned above. We now have invitations to the 5th Anniversary Meeting in October and hope to be distributing these soon. The balance of our flights has now been paid. We are grateful to everyone who has contributed or helped to make this possible in some way. We are excited. The suitcases are starting to appear and as it becomes too cold for the Summer clothes they are starting to make their way to the cases rather than to the wardrobe. Please pray for all of the preparation over the next number of weeks both in regard to our anniversary meeting and to our trip. Continue to pray for the children who are studying the lessons and for the container which hasn't arrived in Nairobi just yet. Pray for those study on our email course. Assignment 2 is due tomorrow. Working to deadlines is a new challenge for some of the students so pray that they will adjust to this. I am being challenged as I mark the lessons and finding that I am learning from the students! Finally, please pray for the family of our worker Joyce in Kenya. Her sister is very ill in Intensive Care in Hospital. She really needs our prayers. Medical treatment in Kenya is very expensive, especially when it involves ICU and operations. To date, the medical bill the family have to settle is Ksh 1.3 million (Kenya Shillings) which at today's rate is almost £9000! Please pray much for this family as they have to cope with the pressure of this bill on top of the stress associated with their sister's illness. If you would like to help financially in anyway and contribute to this need, you can click the link on our home page or donate by clicking here and give via paypal or debit card or contact us by emailing [email protected] if you prefer to donate by cash or cheque Please remember the families of over 100 people who have been killed in Kenya in a tragic fire. Also, remember a large number of people who have been injured.
Pray also for the safe return of a British lady who has been kidnapped in Kenya by those who murdered her husband. On a brighter note, we are looking forward to this Saturday, 17th September, when Portadown Town Centre should be filled to capacity with the annual Country Comes to Town Event. If you are able to come, remember to visit the Feed My Lambs stall in William Street at the top of the town. The latest property we were interested in, in Nairobi, is still available but we have had no clear direction concerning it. Following some advice from a local estate agent here in Northern Ireland, we are now considering other possibilities which we can look into during our visit in November....but the search is still very much ongoing. Please continue to pray that God will meet all of our needs in these days, both spiritual and financial and that we would know His leading in everything we do. The verse above is our prayer in the work, but especially at the minute as we have a number of big decisions to make, regarding property here in Northern Ireland for a Safari Kenya event and also regarding the new office situation in Kenya.
Another suitable property has been found in Nairobi which is ideal, but we really need something definite from God regarding it. We are also encouraged with some new opportunities which have arisen and we pray that the Lord will make His will known to us as we explore this further during our November trip. The deadline for paying the balance on our flights is almost upon us and we are still quite a way off what is needed. Please pray much regarding this. We stepped out in faith and we believe God led us to book, so we are just waiting for Him to finalise things for us. We are encouraged by the response to our DVD. We trust it will give people a greater burden to pray for us. The market was very quiet this past weekend and we are praying this incoming week will be better. Keep praying for the container of lessons and that they will arrive with us in God's perfect timing. Pray for those who are studying on our child protection course. Assignment 2 is due to be sent out. It was a little disappointing that, of the 19 students who are enrolled, 4 submitted their assignment late and even worse, 6 havent submitted their course at all. This was disappointing, even though some had genuine reasons. However, we were delighted that 9 students submitted their answers in good time. Of the 13 papers we received, the answers were of a high standard with the average mark being 90%...so we thank God for that. Please continue to pray for us in these days when our heads are full of excitement and big decisions, as well as trying to stay focussed and to know the mind of God. God has been answering prayer and is doing great and encouraging things. |
Read on for...regular updates and thoughts from Northern Ireland and Africa... Archives
August 2022
Categories |