July 3, 2008

Dear Praying Friends,

We hope that each of you had a happy Fourth of July! We need to really thank our Lord for His protection and blessings on the United States of America for these many, many years. As we see the last days coming and our freedoms eroding, we need to be more diligent in continuing to serve our Lord as we have opportunity. Times are getting worse, and the enemy is gaining more territory. We have the responsibility to tell as many as we can about our wonderful Savior and His love, and how that they, too, can have a relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ as the times get harder before our Lord returns.

June was a great month for us as we welcomed our partners who will be working with us here to Kenya. We had a big party on Sunday, June 15th. We brought our three churches together to welcome Roger and Julie Tate, and their children, Emily, Amy, and Josiah. I preached the sermon that Sunday, and after a film presentation of creation through the life of Christ in the Swahili language, Roger gave the invitation in Swahili. Two people received Christ as their Savior that Sunday!

Roger and Julie and family stayed with us for two weeks, and just this week, moved to another rental house in the area. We really enjoyed having them with us and helping them to get acclimated to Kitale. Their children are a delight and have already made some Kenyan friends. We are so excited about the possibility of working together with them and seeing what God will do through us.

I taught in our Bible Institute this month for the first time this year since our return from the States. God has given us six good men who desire to follow Him and be used for His glory. In our Bible Institute, we have many who are interested in attending, but they have two wives, and are not eligible to be used in the pastorate. I have purchased some discipleship materials and plan to use these in the churches for those who want to be taught more about God's Word, even though they are not eligible to be pastors. Also, there may be some ladies who desire to know more about the Bible, so these courses will benefit them.

Pam is excited about the community ministries. She loves to teach three classes each week in the areas around our churches. Her biggest class is out in the country where our Wananchi Baptist Church is located. Last week, the pastor put chairs out in front of the mud room that we rent each month and forty people came to hear the teachings about the importance of good nutrition in helping people who are affected by AIDS. So, it seems that the community is interested. Jared, one of our pastors, and the person in charge of community education, incorporates teachings from the Bible with each lesson, as he works with Pam to help her. Jared works with Pam, as well as myself, in translating the lessons into Swahili. This is very time consuming, but worthwhile, so that the local people can understand in their own language.

We had a huge disappointment this month. Our house girl, who had worked with us for eleven years, was caught stealing from us. We had suspected that she was stealing after we returned from the States and discovered some of our food was missing. Pam had put money back to buy a new washing machine and it was taken. Also, we had saved to pay our rent and the money was discovered missing.

When we were gone for a day out of town, Pam left some money by our bed to see if our house girl would take it, and she did. She did not admit to taking the money until Pam questioned her about it a few days later. So. I talked to a lawyer here and he suggested that we report her to the police. She denied taking the money when she was questioned by the police, but they suspected that she had taken it after they talked to our other workers. The police asked that she be kept in a holding cell for two days and questioned. After this time she still denied taking the money, but the police felt that she should be arrested and jailed, since they did not believe her story. We decided to let her go and forgive her, as we felt that Christ would do this. So, she has lost her job, but is forgiven, ad we are praying that she will someday repent and return all the money. We still love her and we are praying for her. We still want to be her friends.

We hope that each of you will have a great summer. We thank you for your continued support and prayers. Thanks to each of you who e-mail us and send cards of encouragement. You are a big part of our support team so that we can minister here. Until next month, may our Lord richly bless you.

Your servants in Kenya,

Mike and Pam