August 4, 2008

Dear Beloved Friends,

July was a busy month for us. Roger and Julie are getting acclimated to Kitale, and we have been busy helping them to get established and settled. They stayed with us for two weeks in June when they first arrived, before moving into a rental house here. Then, this month, the owner of the house returned for a week, and they had to move back in with us. Julie was very sick during that time, so we took her to the doctor in Eldoret, the city which is nearest to us. She had a stomach problem, but is much better now. We have really enjoyed having them here with us to share the burden of seeing souls saved, and people growing in Christ. Roger has been helping me with discipleship of our pastors, and this has been such a blessing. He will be helping me to teach in the Bible Institute later this month, Lord willing. The children are adjusting well, and anxious to start home schooling soon. God has blessed us with wonderful people to help us here in our Lord’s ministry.

Pam started back working with the premature babies at the district hospital here a few weeks ago. She goes on Friday mornings to teach the mothers how to care for their little ones who were born too soon, and to give them clothes, hats, and blankets that were donated by many of our supporting churches. At the end of her health talks, she is able to present the gospel, and give out gospel tracts, and a copy of the Gospel of John and Romans in Swahili. She loves this ministry, and enjoys talking with the mothers so much. She misses working with our daughter-in-law, Carrie, in this ministry, though. We are praying for some spiritual fruit as we see this ministry continuing, and the doors being open to share with many who may never have heard this good news.

Pam is also continuing the talks about AIDS in our churches and communities, and how to care for those with this dreadful disease. There is a community health worker in our Wananchi Baptist Church, and he is helping Pam to teach, and instruct those who are interested in the practical aspects of caring for those with AIDS. We have had people to volunteer from each of our churches who want to go into the homes and help out, so now, we will be meeting soon with the village elders in these areas to identify those who are sick in their areas, and want us to help them. Our pastors also want to be involved, so we hope to be able to go into the homes starting this month, and show the love of Christ to those who have been stigmatized. Our churches will be teaching classes in evangelism soon so that our people will know how to deal with those who are interested in salvation. Please help us to pray for this important endeavor, as we are facing opposition from Satan.

Early last month, there was an elderly couple here who were working in a children’s ministry for four months. Late in the evening, they were in their home when thieves broke in, and took advantage of them. They took all of their money, their cell phones and some possessions, and traumatized the woman. They cut both of them with machetes, and broke the man’s legs and arms. They left them for dead, but the woman was able to drag herself to their car, which the thieves had tried to steal, but weren’t successful. With much stress, she drove herself and her husband to a hospital here in Kitale where they were flown out to Nairobi for surgery. They are out of the hospital now, and have recovered enough to go back to Canada where they are from. God was good to spare their lives, and they have forgiven those who tried to kill them. Your prayers for our protection mean so much. God has been good to keep us safe, and we thank Him for this provision.

Today we were called by the Kenyan Revenue Authorities to meet with them in Eldoret, the city closest to us. We have been paying taxes in Kenya for eight years now, but this is our first audit. We went to see our tax accountant, and he advised us what we should do. Later when we reported to the auditors, they wanted to see our tax accountant too, who had not gone with us. They want to raise our taxes, as they feel that we are not paying enough. Many missionaries here don’t pay taxes at all. We don’t mind to pay a fair tax, since we live in this country and minister here. We pay taxes each month, plus pay our accountant at the end of each year over $1,000 for submitting our taxes to the government officials. However, to increase the taxes that we are already paying would be a financial struggle for us. In two weeks we have another meeting with them, and our tax accountant has promised to go with us and explain our situation. We are not being paid any salary here and all that we do is ministry related, so help us to pray for a good meeting with these government officials and that we will not have to pay increased taxes.

God has answered a long standing prayer request for us. Our third church, Wananachi Baptist, located out in the country, has been renting a mud building since April of last year when the church was started. It is a small mud building with no windows and a dirt floor. Pam and I have been praying for a long time about finding land that we could build a simple block church on. We looked and looked in the area, but either the property was too expensive or it was located too far back from the road. About two weeks ago, a church member offered to sell us a half of an acre of his land at a fair price, and it is right on the main road just down from where our church is now. We have had the title deed checked by our lawyer to make sure that it is free of taxes, liens, etc. Now we must get it surveyed and build a fence around the property to show ownership. When this is finished, we hope to start the building process. We will need to build a caretaker’s house on the property, as well as two outside toilets. The Lord has provided most of the money, but we still need about $4,000 to finish everything. So, we are trusting God to help us to get the rest of the money so that we can have a better church building in this community to reach many for Christ. Already the church has started a small nursery school with some children in the area, and this is another avenue to reach the parents for Christ.

Thank each of you for your prayers for us, and your financial support for all of the missionaries of BFM. Your letters and E-mails mean so much to us, as you are definitely part of the team here in Kenya to minister for Christ. Please do pray for our protection from satanic influences, and our safety. May our Lord bless each of you as you labor for Him in your harvest field while the door is still open to preach about Christ. We appreciate you, and your interest in us, and God’s work here.

Many Blessings,

Mike and Pam

P.S. Please note our new E-mail address: mpandersonkenya@yahoo.com

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