DEPARTURES

MANU IS LEAVING US TO move into his own lodging. He is 26, and it is not really too early for him to go - but we will certainly miss him in the house. Indeed, it will only be me and Esther now!! But of course he will not be far away, and we are sure to see him quite often. He will be living less than a kilometre away, but quite on his own in a small self contained cottage - sitting room, bedroom, kitchen, shower & toilet. The whole area is about 30x20fit!! He Will pay 7,500 Kenya Shillings each month. Not bad as things go in Eldoret for a stone house with security. In this photo, taken at Michael's Wedding, he is seen with his niece, Elisa, our great niece). Manu still works in Eldoret, at the sprawling University Teaching Hospital known as The Moi Referral Hospital. He seems quite content and happy there.

TWO OF OUR 14 YEAR OLD BOYS have also left the Homes this week. One from Jacaranda Cottage and one from Drakeley Cottage. They are not related to each other, but both have been unable to settle with us since they came in 2004, and have continually absconded, been recovered, brought back, and then after a few months repeated the whole thing again,.

From Jacaranda, STEVEN OUMA, (pronounced O-oo-ma) initially part of the Tyndale Cottage family, had come to us from the Streets of Eldoret - he was a 'street boy'. Very bright and intelligent, currently in the v1 Grade of Primary School, and apparently Born Again, he has just 'taken off' on a whim and gone 'walk about'. He never has any explanation - just that he 'feel the urge' to go! It may be that the Call of the Street lingers in his mind, and that he has been unable to resist it. He left us this time ( the 6th time ) in company with a boy from Drakeley Cottage during lunchtime.

FROM Drakeley Cottage DENNIS ADIKHA (pronounced a-dee-ka) also 14 did not come to us from the streets of Eldoret. His maternal uncle, who was then the Anglican Provost of Eldoret Anglican Cathedral begged us to take care of him. The Provost's sister, a mother of three, Dennis being the youngest, had contracted AIDS and had only weeks left to live. Dennis's father had deserted some years before, and she was living with another man who had given her two more children. This 'step-father' did not want Dennis in the house either. It was felt that once the Mother had gone the life of Dennis would be in danger. This was also in 2004, Dennis was then 8. We agreed to take the matter to Court and the magistrate agreed that this would be the best course. BUT Dennis loves his Mother. Has never understood that he had to leave her - and she has NOT died, but having obtained good medical attention is (although still suffering from AIDS) well and robust, and has recently had another child by her '2nd husband.'

Dennis has run off 4 times either to his home, or to the home of a relative - always because he wants to be with his Mother. We have talked to her, but she remains afraid that if he returns home her 'husband will harm him'. He and Steven were picked up late in the evening of the day that they left us some 40 kilometres away headed for the town of Nakuru. the Police picked them up and they stayed the night in the Police Station until we collected them at 7a.m. the next morning. After much discussion, and thought and prayer, we have agreed with the Children's Office that they should be transferred from us to a more secure institution, where they can be prevented from running away again. We are not set up as a Detention Centre; no one is under lock and key. Each time they have run away the whole community, children and adults, have been disturbed. It has been unsettling for many and unhealthy. If they had only been willing to settle down and agree to control their sudden urges, we could have easily put the past behind us and given them yet more space. But we have been unable to feel that they can yet be trusted. They will be there at least until they are 18. They will continue with Schooling within the Centre they will go to, and even receive assistance to continue on from there.

THEY seemed quite undisturbed by this turn of events, and were quite dry eyed and nonchalant about it all. Some of us shed a few tears all the same. We don't WIN all the time. There are some failures to leave at the Cross, and to continue to pray for - at a distance.

By the 25th of this month our funds had dwindled, and we looked yet once more at the end of the month looming, and all the labourers working together with us waiting for their wages. BE ANXIOUS for nothing the Word of God says, but it is not very easy to always eradicate our human fears and anxieties - either for ourselves or for others. Not ALWAYS easy to leave everything at the Cross. The Enemy is never quite silent at such times of challenge.....BUT of course we need NOT to be anxious at all, and HE has proved it to us again and again and again. How Patient and Gracious and FAITHFUL He has been and is with us. He knows our frame; knows our weakness, the frailty of our flesh. THUS we have had, yet again, our current anxieties blown away, and His Hand has prevailed to provide all our need, and the needs of all that live and work with us. What CAN one say about God? He is just too wonderful to describe, and so absolutely amazing in how He lets us into His Miracles. We are all shareholders in His Greatness in and through the Name of Jesus. Thank you AGAIN for being partners with us for His Sake.

Lovingly

John and Esther

70 ARE THE YEARS OF A KING

ON SATURDAY, 15th May, my wonderful wife, Esther, and Daryl threw a Party to Celebrate my 70th Birthday, in the School Hall.
They had invited more than a hundred old friends from the district and old boys and girls from the Homes.

It was quite wonderful.

Actually my Birthday was on the 11th but being a weekday nothing could have been arranged. As you see they had arranged the Hall beautifully, and everyone was able to sit down and partake of a good lunch and to fellowship at the same time. A Once in a Lifetime occasion.

A group of children from the four Homes sang

and another group danced as part of the entertainment. Daryl's little daughter Becky danced for the first time, and became a 'star' immediately! It was a truly moving occasion for me.

BUT I was especially Surprised and Thrilled on Friday the 14th. I was working in my Office during the afternoon, and suddenly Daryl put his head round the door, and said, "Dad, you have a visitor!" I was very busy, and did not want to see anyone, and was about to say so when looking up from my work, I found myself confronted by the sight of Steven Green, our eldest son walking through the door. He should have been in England! In fact he had told me on the phone only a few days earlier that he had planned to be with us, but circumstances had cropped up preventing him. I had felt SO disappointed..........and then, there he was, large as life. I had missed him so very much.........it was the very best Birthday Present I could have received. Esther knew of course. SO I felt VERY blessed.

I have continued to feel well and on the 'up and up' health wise, and it was good to pass such an important milestone in life. The Bible actually says that '70 are the years of a king', and in a sense I have been a king under the hand of God - at least for the last 40 odd years here in Testimony. And the Bible also says that the years of a Man shall be 'Three score years and ten." - 70 again! A Generation - a specific period of time. To me it had also suggested itself as a possible END or REST from all that has gone before, and thus the BEGINNING of something new. I had been feeling this since December 2008 as I had looked into the year ahead. Time to hand over? Time to Retire from TFH? Yes all this had been in mind, but it has not transpired that this has actually come to happen - YET. BUT the sense of inevitable and imminent CHANGE remains in the air.
We are seeking Father about it. We are NOT feeling weak or ailing. We are both STRONG. Pray along with us about it.

ALSO we have been considering the possibly of taking time out, leaving DARYL in charge, for maybe three to four months and making a visit back to the UK to visit friends and churches. We have of course made VERY brief visits in the past seven years or so, but mainly to visit family; we were unable to visit the many that pray and support us and the work of TFH, and to bring them up to date, face to face. This might be a time to start planning such a trip - Please let us know what you think.

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IN THE LAST FEW DAYS three unrelated and disturbing headlines have made themselves noticed in the Daily Nation here in Kenya. On the 19th we read

KENYAN GAYS COME OUT OF THE CLOSET

People have to understand gay people are normal.

Then Today, we find on the Front Page -

SCIENTIST WHO CREATES 'LIFE'

'He isn't God'

And then on Page 9 under a general Section Title ' Green Energy' -

DANGER LURKS IN ENERGY SAVING BULB

'The Energy Ministry hopes to install 1,25 million of these in more than

400,000 homesteads across the country'

Just WHERE is our world going? Quite apart from the universal upheavals amongst human society of petty war, civil strife, economic collapse, and ecological destruction, what IS the future of society in general? At 70 I am sure I am excused for asking such a question.

First off I did not like the idea of 'gays' coming 'out of the closet'. Why were they hiding there in the first place. The article reported a gathering of miscellaneous 'gay' people of both sexes

- more than 100 - who 'dined and wined, sang and danced, in front of the media, in a move viewed by many as an attempt to ward off stigma and victimisation.' the reporter states that 'ten years ago there was no public place that could have hosted such a function.' CERTAINLY there has been an increasing shift away from old moral standards since the Sixties world wide.

One spokesman, cited in the Article, says that 'experts put the proportion of 'gays' at 6% of the world population - suggesting a similar figure in respect of Kenya.' Continuing he went on to say -

"We are born this way. We are created this way.

We want to feel comfortable when we come to church"

On Page 20 of the same paper it was reported that a MALAWI COURT found two gay men guilty of of Sodomy and Indecency, according to Section 156 of their Penal Code. The Magistrate adding that such action was 'against nature'. In Malawi gays are NOT normal people, and it is suggested that their abnormality is willfully indecent and unnatural behaviour. It ought not to be encouraged, or its dangers minimised. YET they are normal in most other ways no doubt. They may be intelligent, able to inter-act in all other areas of society almost without detection.

But a man or woman with a brain tumour, for example, whether born with it, or developing it during his/her lifetime, would have in fact a life threatening condition, whilst at the same time appearing to be exactly the same as any other person - until almost too late to help them. This is no doubt a poor comparison. But my point is that to be gay is to have a condition that is unnatural, and which can have an adverse effect on society including ones self. Should I be encouraged to see it as 'normal behaviour' in order to be prevented myself from seeing and understanding that I need HELP? Surely to NOT tell a person he is ill and needs treatment is to wish him dead. Surely it is THIS attitude that needs putting right. To legalise homosexuality in any of its forms is to wish all those who practice it to be DEAD - a very antisocial attitude. These practices are against NATURE, and against the purpose of the Creator (and I speak not only from the Christian appreciation of what is acceptable to God, but from the perspective of Islam, Hinduism and the majority of those Religions that have heard from God). They are considered by God as offences punishable.

Thus note the words of JUDE in the Bible - v7 - The wicked are sentenced to suffer, just as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the adjacent towns, - which likewise gave themselves over to impurity, and indulged in unnatural vice and sensual perversity, are laid out in plain sight, - as an exhibit of perpetual punishment, and to warn or everlasting fire.

AND we are TOLD that as it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah so it will be in the LAST DAYS of this world. The most common sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was homosexuality.

For us to see no danger in it, no terrible punishment waiting upon those who continue to practice it flies in the face of all common sense, and the example of history. This is no genetic accident for which none are responsible, but a willful CHOICE of mind, as much as stealing or murder is a choice of action. 6% and climbing! Much MORE than that in reality! Are you watching, are you concerned, will you be a good Watchman to your community, your social circle?

AND NOW A SCIENTIST HAS CREATED LIFE IN A TEST TUBE. Not a baby this time,but 'the first living cell to be controlled entirely b y synthetic DNA.' This is not new, but a definite advance in the mechanics of genetic engineering, and we are on the thresh hold - if not already going through the door, into a new world where MAN can have the power to change, and manipulate any species - even Man himself. This spirit of tinkering with what IS, in order to create something different or even new is disturbing. I believe that it is an attribute of the Enemy to be able to 'engineer' changes - mutation - in existing creation. Through it will come confusion, horror, and even destruction at every natural level of nature.

Great wisdom is needed here - where will it come from?

AND FINALLY those new 'corkscrew-like' bulbs - the energy savers, the money savers. Kenya Power and Lighting Company describes the health hazards (skin cancer, mercury poisoning) of these energy savers as "minimal". The power saving benefits of the "green" bulbs" they say far outweigh its health hazards. What IS more important than our health. Already the old bulbs are being withdrawn and taken out of production. Soon there will only be these new unattractive and 'perhaps' dangerous replacements. Who could possible be behind such a scheme whereby - who knows - billions might be put in jeopardy of ill health even death? WHO could possibly be so busy planning attack after attack upon MAN - made, after all in the Image of God. And we seem to generally, as a species, to be pretty easy going and laid back, letting whatever will be - BE .....Peace, prosperity, DECAY - at ANY PRICE. Should we not WAKE UP, and SEE where we are going, and how little is left to sucked out of life's 'sink' into the WASTE?

Have a good week - we love you all!

John and Esther

MURUGI SEEKS HELP TO LOOK AFTER ORPHANS....So it was reported in the Daily Nation recently. Who is this Murugi? The Hon. Esther Murugi is Kenya's Minister for Gender, Children and Social services. All Charitable Children's Institutions have to be Registered with her Ministry through the Kenya Children's Department which is under its Authority. The Nation reported -

'ORPHANS have overwhelmed the government which is appealing for assistance from religious and charity organisations. The Minster (left) said that the government was supporting over 2.5 million orphans and its limited resources were overwhelmed.'

However, her Ministry has stated that by 2020 there will be no need of Children's Homes because there will be no more needy children. They will all have been absorbed into Foster Homes - taken in by existing families and fostered. This is obviously not looking as if it will actually happen! It is, therefore, rather surprising that the Minister is not thanking the Churches, NGOs and other Charitable bodies that are already assisting and helping. Nationwide there are hundreds upon hundreds of such organisations pouring out money, care and effort, without cost to the government, in order to help provide for the growing number of orphans. The government has previously stated that there are more than 2 million children still NEEDING care within Kenya, probably additionally to the 2.5 million the Minister is claiming are already being cared for by the State, plus ALL of those already cared for by privately funded Homes across the Country.

LAST YEAR, as I have previously noted in this Blog, a Team was sent from the National Council of Social Services (working with the Ministry) to Eldoret, where all those working for and amongst needy children were gathered together, and told we were doing nothing. Of the 14 or so currently Registered Charitable Children's Homes in our area it can be said that they care for more than 2000 children placed in their care by the Kenya Juvenile Court at the instigation of the Kenya Children's Department. This care is financed entirely by unsolicited donations and gifts and also other funding brought in freely from overseas sponsors. The Kenya Government pays nothing for it and contributes nothing to it - APART from giving permission, at a cost, for such work to be carried on.

Testimony Faith Homes which is, as most of you know, a work of faith and trust in God, depending upon Him alone to provide without making public appeals or directly soliciting money to carry on its work, cares for a daily average through any year of 140 children.

This costs us approximately Ksh.18million per annum .

As a British Citizen directing this enterprise, unpaid, I must pay Ksh.100,000/- annually to the Government in order to obtain permission to be in Kenya voluntarily helping its children.

Additionally Testimony Faith Homes must apply for Re-Registration of itself as a Registered Charitable Children's Institution every three years at an approximate cost of Ksh.50,000 ----

(3000/- for registration. 24,000/- for Police Certificates of Good Conduct procured for each member of staff. 23,000 for Medicals arranged again for each member of staff, plus other small fees along the way.) We are just ONE of countless others. Quite a little revenue is being collected from those already saving the Country billions of shillings.

It is hard to see why the government should be so willing to take more and more money from those it is already receiving so much assistance from. It is a if we have to be charged for the privilege of caring for and spending our lives and energies for Kenya's children. Ksh.100,000/- ++.per year, could be used on helping more children if the government were to exempt us from these Charges. It as if, on top of, helping with lightening the load for the Government it also wants to make money on the side from it. Not encouraging. This attitude has come about only in the last two or three years.

When Testimony started in the 70's we were thanked and appreciated for the then small effort we were making. On being Registered as a recognised Children's Home, no charge was made. Every two or three months the Children's Department would visit and inspect us. No charge was made, and we would carry on - no need to RE-register -- until 2007, and now AGAIN this year of 2010. AND, of course the mere fact that this Exercise has to be carried and out and repeated every three years promotes a sense of insecurity and makes it difficult to really plan ahead. Even the children we care for, who realise what is happening, are left wondering if they will still have a home to live in at the end of 2013. It is unsettling, and costly to run a CCI in Kenya today.

HON. Murugi, all we who are here helping already, are glad and happy to be doing so, but it would be nice to be noted, nice to be appreciated - and perhaps some assistance given in being exempted from onerous and expensive charges put upon us and the work we do.

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There are times when all our staff come together for a working lunch. Houseparents, cooks, cleaners, groundsmen, office staff. This gives us an opportunity to fellowship, share a meal, and also discuss the progress and situation in the Homes. The School staff, including Teachers, do the same, and this has proved to be an excellent way of keeping in touch with each other and promoting good relations generally.

AND of course it re-focuses each of us on the whole reason and purpose of being part of Testimony - both the School and HOMES - to promote the welfare and protection of children in need. There are always plenty of them waiting for the chance to come IN, from outside.

ELDORET streets are more and more inundated with children living on them, away from home, homeless, and totally at risk. All day they roam the town seeking food, money, anything. At night some return to their poverty stricken homes in the slums, and others huddle together in what are called 'Barracks" their own name for their camps. SMALL kids of both sexes, some with disability, some sharp and intelligent beyond their years. Some already grown up into the teens, and married with babes in arms. Day by day they learn more and more the world has to teach them. Some of them will grow up to be thugs and muggers, others will just live and die, helpless on the street. Many of them (far too many) already with HIV and AIDS. Not a happy or encouraging prospect. There must be more than 1000 within Eldoret Town alone. They need to be scooped up and accommodated in one big Institution that will provide safety, education, and a future life. There are just too many to distribute or even accommodate in family sized children's homes like our own. My heart aches for them every time I am in town. I look at their little faces and just wish I could be 28 again and full of energy and adventure...........

Esther and I are very fine and well! We Praise the Lord. We have been very busy administratively this week, and have felt no ill effects. It is good to be back on track and we thank you all for your prayers. God Bless you each and every one.

John & Esther

WHAT WOULD JESUS SAY ?

HERE IS MY LITTLE FRIEND 'PIGLET' AGAIN. He is the 'baby' of all the 'POOH' characters. An innocent little character, friend of all, helper of all. He seems a bit simple, but in fact he is the one that always seems to make sense out of Pooh's muddles, and misguided notions. A Friend Indeed, with no side to him, no axe to grind, quite unselfish. Quite outwardly vulnerable.

KENYA is soon to Vote on a Referendum to say YES or NO to Accepting the Draft of it's New Constitution. A Constitution that will REPLACE the one we have had since Independence, drawn up at Lancaster House by the then Colonial Government. For the most part, through weeks of political wrangling and manoeuvres the draft has been seen as generally acceptable - apart from two issues. Abortion being one and the continuance of Kadhi Courts to deal with various Islamic legal matters, as the other.

I do not personally wish to spend time here in discussing the 'Ins and Outs' of these matters in depth. In fact I will only be touching on the second issue in passing. It is possible that due to the feeling of the Catholic and Protestant Communions in the Country, the Proposed Draft might be overturned and prevented from going through. Feelings run high on both issues, and a great deal of bitterness, even hatred is being fuelled on both sides of the arguments. The Churches have serious influence on politics here with a population that is more than 83% of a 'Christian' persuasion. Perhaps the biggest and most serious aspect of the Church's attitude is that referring to the Islamic Courts. It threatens to be a seen as racial, if not merely minority religious intolerance. There has been a great deal of Christian comment from various denominations voicing the fear that Islam wants to take over the world, and that Kenya as a 'Christian' Country should beware of increasing its influence and power in the land. There are obviously two sides to this..........

In Eldoret, a city of well over 600,000 including women and children, there is an Islamic Community with at least three Mosques. I cannot say exactly how many Muslims there might be or even of what sect. They are a minority. They ARE slowly increasing in number but not in any remarkable way. I have lived in this town since 1972. I have mixed with and had fellowship with a fairly representative number of those adhering to the Muslim Faith. I have found them peaceful, having a real knowledge of the spiritual reality of God Almighty, and have seen NO violent or militant attitude in any. Many times we have sat together and talked of God, sharing our positions and understanding with mutual love. I think that this is worth reporting. In no way has it diminished my witness for Christ, and yet at no time has it been met with anger, or even annoyance. I do have many Muslim acquaintances.

Recently I read a letter printed in the DAILY NATION NEWSPAPER dated Friday, 16th April 2010. It was written by a Kenyan lawyer - Njonjo Mue, a Christian. It caught my attention, and I thought I would quote from it today. You may not agree with the drift - but it IS interesting. NJONJO writes -

'For the avoidance of doubt, I am a born again Christian. Baptised as an infant, confirmed as a teen, I received Christ as my Saviour in my early 20s. My wife and I worship at the Nairobi Chapel where I serve on the Usher Board.

I have watched with increasing dismay as respected Christian leaders express strong views against the inclusion of Kadhi's Courts in the Draft Constitution. The are saying-

'Entrench Islamic Sharia Law in the Constitution at your own risk.'

They demanded that Kadhi Courts be removed, failing which "the Christian Church in Kenya shall have no option but to reject the Draft, and vote NO!"

KADHI COURTS did not accidentally end up in the current Constitution, but were part of negotiations between Jomo Kenyatta and the then Sultan of Zanzibar which led to the 10 mile coastal strip being Incorporated into Kenya. The TREATY is binding. We cannot simply abrogate the Treaty because some among us claim that the Courts are part of a Muslim plot to over the world. (NB- Kadhis Courts are not religious Courts. They are judicial Courts that address the issues of marriage, divorce and inheritance to those who profess Islam as a Religion. They do not infringe on the rights of those who do not profess Islam.)

WWJD was an ubiquitous acronym. We penned it in our books and scratched it on our walls. Whenever we faced a dilemma in our spiritual walk, the answer was in the question -

'WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?'

I am reminded of these four simple letters as I listen to the increasingly menacing voices of some church leaders. The language in certain Christian radio stations, and sermons in churches border on hate speech. Conspiracy theories about Muslims planning to take over the country have spun out of control and way many church leaders engage is totally lacking in grace. What WOULD Jesus DO?'

This is less than half of the complete text. What WOULD JESUS do? What DID He do with the various Religious and Political sects and minorities of His day? How did he come up against the Roman Authority, the Jewish Priesthood? He Himself witnessed about Himself that He had come NOT TO JUDGE but to SAVE. (John 12v47) Not to DESTROY, but to SAVE. (Luke 9v56). There is no doubt that many of us spend a lot of time trying to keep ourselves and even the world safe, and in doing so judge all manner of things AND people, rather than actually witnessing to the Saving Love of God in Christ. So much self righteousness in our world and even in the Church, so much self conceit and wisdom that does not come from above. YET Christ Himself was led as a lamb to the slaughter without a struggle, without self justification against unrighteous men. He STOOD for God, but He did not try to save Himself when His testimony was rejected. SO difficult for our world to see and understand that EVIL when it is revealed MUST be condemned, but this does not automatically mean that we condemn the sinner, the one caught up in the evil. We have the Ministry of Reconciliation and Salvation given to us in Christ. We are to reach DOWN in to the pit of destruction, we are to put our hand in the FIRE, to rescue those that perish there. Thus thou shalt not kill, shall not destroy, shall not humiliate, take revenge upon, or repudiate any. HE demonstrated this way to us. This is what Jesus did. Can WE do it - if we are IN Christ then it is not impossible, and there is hope.

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THIS WEEK my darling wife has not been well. Actually she has not felt well for a month or so, and has silently taken it to prayer saying nothing even to me until this week. She was full of fears for herself, and then on Thursday night this week awoke with pain and distress. Even then she did not wake me, but betook herself again to prayer and found peace and sleep come upon her.

The next morning she shared her fears, and we agreed to arrange for her to visit the Doctor that morning (Friday) . She went and was put through a thorough and rigorous Medical. All her fears were taken away in the few words - 'You are fine, Mrs. Green, no cancer, no heart problem, nothing at all wrong with you.' Our doctor loves the Lord, and I think he got as much Joy and Gladness as Esther. However, he did think that she might have been over doing things, and that together with worry about my own problems caused in early March and through April, plus the death of her Mum, added to the load, and that she is a bit stressed out. We have laid it all before the Lord and she is much relieved. Thank you Jesus.

On Friday LAST WEEK we had just a few shillings left in the Bank, and still had not paid outgoings for the month. That night Esther and I had just laid on our bed and Praised and Thanked the Lord for providing, just as if funds were already to hand. We felt great peace, and had a blessed Week-end. On Monday when I opened my E-mail post I found that AENON had deposited EXACTLY what we needed! So you see the LORD - before we even call - has answered all our need. Why do we fret? Why are we anxious? Why do we falter in our faith? BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING - only BELIEVE with Thanksgiving.

We love you all

John and Esther