FAITH COMETH BY HEARING

JOHN MATUMBWE aged 9 when he first came to us in 2005, is a destitute child, whose origins have remained a mystery. He had been dumped, quite literally, at a 'Street Children's Rescue Centre' in Eldoret Town. He was thought to be stone deaf, and so there was no communication sought either way, and it was assumed he was mute as well. BUT in 2005 we admitted John to Tyndale Cottage here at TFH, and Mica and Catherine Yego soon discovered that he was NOT stone deaf! He WAS deaf however, but could hear when an effort was made to speak loudly and carefully. He was a happy child and of an easy and peaceful temperament. Now he is 14, and we have had nothing but problems in trying to find help for his deafness. WE have sent him to doctor after doctor, consultant after consultant, until finally they could only say that IF he was fitted with Hearing Aids he might do well! The devices they prescribed all cost well over 500 pounds each and could not be discovered in Kenya! It is amazing how UNHELPFUL the medical profession can be at times. THIS MONTH we have been introduced to a Catholic Clinic about 200 kilometres away from us. We sent John there with Mica, and they have already fitted him with an Aid costing only 20 pounds! They think his other ear will need an operation next year, but with the hope that he will be able to hear after that. Suddenly the sun is shining for John. SO THRILLED to be able to HEAR so much that had escaped his notice, and SO anxious to learn! He can lip read a little, and he is of course attending our School. He has taken in a great deal, but now the world is opening up for him. Please do remember him in prayer. How wonderful that he may now be able to hear the Word of God, and find added reason to BELIEVE in Him as Saviour. ALL of the children in the photo are 'Throw-away' kids from the streets of Eldoret. They all came to us at very young ages between 2 and 5 years and although every effort has been made to trace their families (if any) no progress has been made. But they are a happy crowd, and Tyndale Cottage is very much their home, and Catherine and Mica much loved as Mum and Dad.

ELDORET TOWN, according the Municipal Council is a still a Town of some 300,000 souls. However, recent research has put the number, including women and children at around 900,00 to one million. Such has been the expansion over the years. When Esther and I first arrived here in January 1973 there was said to be only 40,000! The town centre was originally laid out with wide roads (wide enough for an ox-waggon to be turned around full circle without hitting the curb), side walks, lined with ornamental trees. Today there are some new buildings and even multi story blocks of offices, but generally the street scenes have not changed apart from crumbling side walks, and fewer trees; the increasing numbers of both people and vehicles. The MAIN road through t0 Kampala in Uganda and our own capital, Nairobi, passes right through the centre. A busy thoroughfare, and often impassable with traffic blocks. It is said that 60% of the population is unemployed and under the age of 20 years. It LOOKS like that. A good climate, never too hot, and quite pleasant generally through the year ...... Still a little unpredictable seasonably these days. Never-the-less it is inclined to be a progressively congested city, pressed upon on three sides by what amount to slum areas where the majority live in unplanned ramshackle estates. The escalating cost of living more and more restricts general welfare, and it is for this reason, mainly, that children are coming on the the Town Streets to beg, steal, and ply some trade or means to make a living. For all the current attempts to solve this problem it seems unable to go away, and instead grows the more, whole families having been born on the street and still living upon it. Of course to some extent Street People exist in every Country; a universal manifestation of our day and age! IN THE PHOTO above we are looking EAST from the Town Hall (bottom left) towards that side of town where we live in Testimony Faith Homes - just where the seen buildings seem to merge with greenery - about a 30 minute walk to the town centre. The Lord gave us a nice place to be, with no slum area in our immediate vicinity, and therefore quieter and less open to crime and violence as other parts of the town boundaries. Hard to think I have been here for 38 years already. I may be the longest service missionary left in the area!

Our old PEUGEOT is being repaired. Had to cut the chassis in half and then weld it back together - it was so much bent out of shape. All done, and the body work replaced and where necessary beaten back into shape. Still some parts to find (not readily available) but we think it WILL be back on the road. We did not take the Workshop Manager in town into our confidence financially so, unknown to himself, he has been working step by step in faith with us and OUR faith toward God. I look forward to sharing all about it in a very positive, and I hope challenging manner when we go to settle our account. God is SO wonderful to give us so many extra opportunities to share the Good News.

ONE week to go before the School Parents and Price Giving Day. Hope the weather will be free of RAIN by then. We are still hoping for our usual crowd of five hundred or so parents to attend, but we shall also then only be a few days away from the much talked about Constitutional Referendum on 4th August. The government is already putting security personnel in place - Eldoret is full of uniformed guards - as a deterrent to expected riots. A lot of people feeling stressed out about it, and this may stop them from attending outside functions until the final Results are over and calm restored. Yesterday the DAILY NATION'S headlines read 'FEAR, TENSION IN HOTSPOTS' - Frightened by threats of eviction, a trickle of displaced persons is heading back to IDP Camps. But this time it's different (from 2007); 15000 ADDITIONAL SECURITY OFFICERS ARE ON THE GROUND AND 9,000 MORE ARE ON THE WAY. But OUR trust is in the LORD, and will ever remain so no matter what is happening around and about us.

Our Love and Prayers are always rising up for you. God Bless and Keep each one of you through the coming week.

John and Esther
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AUSTRALIAN INPUT 2010

THIS IS THE 2010 TYNDALE
CHRISTIAN SCHOOL MISSION TEAM - 35 of them, including staff and two parents. Mike Potter, the Headmaster, is third from the left (top) and his dear wife Dani far right (bottom). All and every one worked themselves to a frizzle with zeal and zest. This has been the 5th Team to come out to us, bi-annually, going back to 2000. ALL have always impressed us with their excellent spirit and willingness to put their all into their work and fellowship. They have worked with paint brushes, spades, machetes, saws, hammers, their bare hands and muscle. They have provided needed Repairs and Redecorations we could not afford, and contributed to medical and recreational needs, and most of all made it possible for us to initially commence and build the first of the two Homes put up in 2007 - Tyndale Cottage. Their outgoing friendship have encouraged and uplifted our children as well as giving them Role Models and Examples to emulate. All this inspired we are sure, by the Holy Spirit, and a Vision and Purpose put by him into the Potters.

THIS MORNING they have left us.

As usual, as the buses came to pick them up and return them to Nairobi en route for Australia once more, there were emotional farewells, with floods of tears, and loving hugs as friendships made were suddenly challenged by sudden separation..............

THIS YEAR their main task has been (for us) the building of a six foot tall fence made of tin roofing sheets between Jacaranda Cottage and the neighbouring plot - some 100+ metres! The old rotting timber fence had first to be pulled down and the undergrowth cleared. It was a big task.
They worked hard and produced for the first time SECURITY for that compound, and safety too. Yesterday, as we all admired the completed effort, I suddenly was reminded of the words of an old

refrain 'Don't fence me in'.. I listened this morning to the 1944

rendering by Bing Crosby - very interesting.
'Oh give me land, lots of land under starry skies above'

Don't fence me in!

Let me ride through the wide open country that I Love;

Don't fence me in !

Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze,

and listen to the murmur of the cotton wood trees

Send me off for ever, but I ask you please,

DON'T FENCE ME IN!

As we admired the new Fence these words just flashed into mind. We were building this fence to keep wild dogs and even snakes OUT of the Jacaranda Cottage compound with its three Families comprising some 90 or more children and adults. It was meant protect, and also secure. We thought it would also discourage some of our more adventurous children from finding a way out of the compound without being discouraged. It was built in love for the good of those it surrounded.

BUT the words of the song suddenly were there to declare how opposed we all are to being 'fenced in - even out'. Many years ago when I was a teenager I remember watching a sheep nose its way under a wire mesh fence in order to get at some lush grass just out of reach. The fence was just a metre away from the edge of chalk cliffs more than a 100 feet above rocks and crashing surf. Leaving some of its wool on the wire the willful sheep forced its way through, but as it settled to eat the ground crumbled beneath her and she, with the cliff, hurtled downwards into the roaring sea below. She was not glad for the fence; she had been blind to it, and unable to accept its restriction. She broke free from it and paid with her life. Yes, and the Bible says WE, like sheep, have all gone astray and followed our own way....willfully, willingly blind and unheeding to where we are actually going.

And immediately to mind also sprang Isaiah 5 and the words concerning God's Vineyard....

My well beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill.

And He fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it

with the choicest vine, and a built tower in it, and also a wine press therein.

And He looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes.

Knowing our proneness to sin, God has done His best to keep us safe, and to secure our lives pending the time we might come to fruition and the knowledge of Salvation......but not all are glad or even appreciative of His Love and Mercy - they seek for their freedom and the removal of every restriction. We see this in our children as they grow up. As they mature and progressively discover their own strengths and the attractions of the world around them, they seek to press against the laws that kept and protected them from their birth. Often they shake off what they believe are 'shackles' and jump over the 'fences' into supposed Liberty and Freedom. And then........ . Well of course God is even then Merciful and Compassionate, but we also know His Spirit will not always struggle with a Man's Self-will (Genesis 6v3). And then....?

In verse 4 of Isaiah 5 God asks this question - a question often asked even perhaps by parents of their children, or a friend........

What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it?

Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?

NOW I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard!

I will take away the hedge and the wall - THE FENCE

The ground shall be trodden down.

It will be laid waste.

It shall not be tended or dug.

Briers and thorns shall grow upon it.

No rain shall come upon it.

(It will face destruction)

WITHOUT the Fence - the WORD - of God we will be defenceless, and facing ruin and desolation. Without the Fence we are without protection, without prosperity, without all well-being. Without the WORD, Yes, without JESUS in our lives, we are without Leadership and Guidance. We shall be open to every marauding and destroying influence, overwhelmed and encroached upon by every devouring evil.

As all this flashed through my mind I wondered what would happen to the three Christian Homes now so safe and protected if we removed the FENCE - the REAL FENCE that encircled and protected all the souls that lived and safely grew within them. What would happen if the Word of God that governs Testimony Faith Homes as a whole were to be torn down, or in some other way removed or allowed to be depleted or forgotten? How important for us in Testimony Faith Homes, and indeed for each one of us as individuals and perhaps Leaders in our Christian lives, to make sure the JESUS is up front in our lives, His Word surrounding and demonstratively seen keeping our lives.

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THE HEAVY RAIN HAS CONTINUED through the week - and it has remained COLD.

A five ton truck bringing firewood for the school boilers has just arrived - managing to pull down a good part of one of our trees as it did so. Wood is expensive now as you would expect in a Country like ours where almost every forest has been exploited and robbed of its trees for purely selfish purposes with little or NO thought for replacing what has been taken away. Soon the government may put a total ban on a great deal of business related to timber. This will affect a large sector of the community still reliant on fuel such as charcoal.

THIS WEEK in the Daily Nation, it has been announced that with immediate effect ALL NEW private dwelling houses and commercial buildings such as schools will NOT be given Planning Permission unless they make provision in the Building Plans for a Solar Heating System. NOT to do so will result in fines upwards of 1000 pounds sterling. Additionally we are warned that ALL such houses and institutions both private and commercial will be expected to now plan to provide themselves with Solar Heating within the given Grace Period of FIVE years. It will be costly, and I am not sure what percentage of the population will be able to accommodate this rule. BUT I do believe it is a good and necessary move. For once I concur with the Government! We need to conserve energy against diminishing supplies. Lack of trees have been partly responsible for our own change of climate and reduction in rain fall, which in turn is affecting hydro electric power.

Have a Blessed and Useful Week in Jesus Name

John and Esther

A SPOONFUL OF SUGAR...?

THE KENYA REVENUE AUTHORITY, which is still looking for ways to sqeeze money out of Charitable Children's Institutions, has this week offered FREE SUGAR to ALL of them in our District!! Apparantly they had a stock pile of confiscated Sugar (1400 x 50kgs bags) and need to get rid of them. Testimony have received 24 such bags, and all those other Registered Home in our area similar amounts. We are hoping they will release more in a few weeks!! one 5okg bag of sugar today in kenya is worth Ksh.4,000/- and lasts us 1 week only. Still a BIG saving on our immediate housekeeping bill. THUS on the one hand they are taking, with the other giving. OR perhaps it really is a case of - "A spoonful of Sugar helps the Medicine go down!"

THIS MORNING, I am blogging in Green Cottage sitting room. I thought, as it was Saturday and cold in my Office, that I would install myself at the dining table and quietly get down to business. BUT my darling little wife had also decided that this morning would be the time to clean out all the cupboards in the dining room dresser, AND pile up everything she found in them on the table in front of me, so that in the end I felt as if I had suddenly become the proprietor of a Second-hand shop!!

Esther is more than well - and thus continously has new 'brain-waves' that take her off on some new gambit and occupation. TO-DAY is one of her cleaning days! Ah well, it's too late to unplug my computer and return to the Office, soooo.....I will continue on, surrounded with bri-a-brac, and a sense of being just another item up for dusting and perhaps even re-evaluating!!

DARYL has also just dropped in - 12 noon our time - for his breakfast!! Also deposited on the table with everything else! - Mozart is vainly trying to set a less frenetic mood in the background.

The Daily Nation has also just arrived. It warns us that there is just 25 days to go before the National Referendum takes place on whether or not to adopt the proposed new Constitution. It also announces that 'Leaflets, warning and intimidation mar campaigns' of the various adherents of the YES and NO camps throughout the Country. Intimidation, and the fear of a repeat of the kind of unrest experienced in 07 is in the air, with many moving away from sensitive tribal and political areas. AND, whilst all this is bubbling around us, the Members of Parlaiment continue to seek after their PAY RISE which will - according to the Paper in front of me - give MPs in Kenya 'The highest salaries in the world, based on the size of the economy.' Even though the Prime Minister has stood against the increase, and stated that he himself will refuse to acceept it, the MPs are rooting to get it, one way or another, against public opinion . They know that if the Proposed Constitution is voted IN their current right to review and raise their own salaris will no longer be there, AND they will be TAXED - something that at present they escape. In wanting to raise their salaries NOW they hope to get away without losing too much IF they become taxable. That's the way the cooky crumbles. The GREED of the Ruling Class (part of a 9% minority) cannot be imagined, and it is almost out of hand, and a real threat to national peace and stability.

The REFERENDUM is supposed to take place on the 4th August. Baring this in mind, and the current climate in the Country Esther and I have finally felt that our place is here and not in the UK at such a time. Thus we have decided to remain here for the balance of 2010. Perhaps 2011 till look more auspiscious and allow us time and space to plan a short break away.

THE RAIN continues, and also the CHILL in the air. Not a lot of sunshine to lighten the day.

WE HEARD RECENTLY, that someone living in Eldoret and communicating to another living in the USA, had said on 'Face Book' that 'DAD' (that's me) had 'softened' a bit and was not so strictly against GAYS as he used to be. Well I think I must make my position clear though I have hoped it already was - to all and sundry - and once again without wishing to be offensive or to cause undue hurt. This is my opinion based as it is upon the Word of God as it stands in the Bible. Humanly we ALL have the right to our own opinion, and thus I see no reason why mine should be objected to more than another's. The Truth and Validity of ANY held opinion must be weighed against its outworking in daily life and society, AND against the revealed and proved eternal WORD of God.

SO I must re-iterrate my belief that all homosexuallity in thought, word and deed, is ungodly, unnatural, and inconvenient to humanity, and that such practice will risk the wellbing of body and soul, physically, phsycologically, and spiritually, both here and now, and for eternity.

THUS I CANNOT in love and compassion condone the willful puruance of such a lifestile. I would not invite a gay couple to live together in my house or even find myself glad or approving of their intimate relationships or activities anywhere else.

HOWEVER, this does NOT mean that I have ceased to love or care for such, but only that I cannot love or accept their way of life. God Himself tells us that He loves ALL souls, but that He cannot live with our bad habits or lifestyles. He seeks to SAVE us and to SEPERATE us from what harms us - even at the expense of being miss-understood. He will not be close or have us to live with HIM - AND our sins! It is never easy to be told that we are wrong, when our wrong gives us pleasure. We immediately want to defend our position.

But if we are wrong at any time, then that 'wrong' will - if not turned away from - hurt us, perhaps even kill us.

I do not and cannot take the position that we are BORN GAY. But I do concede that many of us may have ínherited' a gay disposition. A mother taking Heroin during her pregnancy will almost certainly be reponsible to her baby being born with an adiction to the same drug. The most famous and world renowned of our Genetisists do not agree that there is a GAY Gene. And even if one were to be found it would not follow that ALL 'Gays' are having such a gene!

EITHER WAY the condition of a homosexual (male or female) is 'unnatural' to the normal sexual state and orientation of a human being. GOD made Man - as a species - Male and Female.

NONE should - because of inclination, or lack of perception - accept what is wrong with them without effort to put the wrong RIGHT - at whatever cost, effort, or sacrifice.

To willfully remain in a state that God cannot approve of seperates from God.

You MIGHT say that the Christiana believes that this is why God sent Christ - to pay for our error and sin - and it IS so. BUT because God has forgiven sin, and DOES forgive the sin we confess and repent of, it does not follow that when we then continue to willfully LIVE in sin, that He will then continue to overlook it. There will be a price to pay. He will not always spare us, or struggle with us................ His Righteous Justice will require righteous judgement. IN His view He has not only provided means for our Forgiveness, BUT also means to come away and out from under the need to serve and satisfy ourselves and sin. He has given us His Holy Spiriit to stand with us and give us the power to turn away from sin.

SO my dear ones...... if you are GAY tempted to be so, or even struggling against that disposition, be sure of my determination to show you the Love of God, but NOT to necessarily tell you that you are safe and right to be gay, or to have a gay relationship.

I may not shirk from sharing my fears with you, and to point out the commandment to you. If that should annoy you, or give you cause to feel I am an 'enemy' - then I must bare it. But I will never compromose my love or care of you by denying to tell you the truth and give you heartfelt loving warning of where your life is taking you.

SO let us all learn to pray for each other - though we may not all be able to live with each other.

Let us pray for the Love of God to confront our imperfections, and to make us men and women enough to accept what He shows us and to respond to Him. He wants to own each one of us as His child. He wants and longs for our heart's desire to be that we should be reconciled with HIM.

Our love to all our readers, friends and family

John and Esther

NOT WITH OUR TAX MONEY!!

THIS IS A VIEW OF THE KENYAN PARLIAMENTARY CHAMBER - EMPTY! Currently it caters for 222 MPs., although they are rarely all in attendance. They seem to come and go at will. This week they have sought to give themselves yet another Pay-rise. This time in the region of Ksh,1,241,000 per month each! This would be in the region of $15,512 per month! The consensus of Non Governmental Organisations in Kenya have described the MP's wage rise as "Theft with impunity, outright selfishness and the greatest betrayal of the people they represent in Parliament." An MP's 'Sitting-Allowance' alone has been raised by 100% which would put an additional Ksh.1. million per year on the taxpayer's burden. The response has been public outcry across the Country'In total the public will now spend Ksh.4.3 billion per year to pay the 222 MP's salaries and various Allowances.' . And WHO is the brave heart proposing to bring this Bill to Parliament? Why it is the Minister of Finance himself. Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, MP. One wonders how it can be that he should propose such extravagant and uncalled for measures at a time when the Country is in dire economic distress. Is he a puppet of parliamentarians and their greed. He was unable to speak against the determination of MPs NOT to allow themselves to be taxed on their earnings last year ....and NOW? One feel incredulous that any sane person, with even the slightest integrity could be prevailed upon to suggest such selfish, and canabalistic measures!
TODAY Mr. Kenyatta has told MPs that the current Budget has no cash for a pay rise!! He claims that he was not behind the Bill, and would not have presented it when the time came!! Is that true? Or is he just backing down. When one wants to be President one day, one might, after all, try not to upset the people who might vote for him - at least not until afterwards. When will Kenyans wake up and ask themselves who they are voting into office, and why? Surely the man in the street, who votes in faith for the man or woman he or she hopes will improve the lot of the average Kenyan, has the right to be protected rather than robbed by the one he votes for. What do MPs do all day (when and if they are actually 'sitting' so lucratively in Parliament) apart from using the people to enrich themselves? Are they not milking the cow whilst at the same time denying what is needed to produce the milk? They take away the 'grass' and tell the cow to grow fat and yield more milk - on DUST! And just to feed a badly chosen FEW! Where is Justice? Where is Integrity? Where is Truth? Members of Parliament of whatever category are like secular Shepherds. They are there to lead and guide the sheep, providing good pasture, peace and prosperity. Yet they are now like the FALSE SHEPHERDS described and written about in the Bible. The verses given below and taken from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel chapter 34v2-10. They should be food for thought for every Religious AND SECULAR leader, and a warning that each one of us that has a responsibility to others should seriously take to heart.

"Woe be to the Shepherds of..........?.?.......that do feed themselves!

Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

YE eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, and you kill them that are fed!

BUT ye feed NOT the flock.

The diseased have ye not strengthened,

neither have ye healed that which was sick,

neither have ye bound up that which was broken,

neither have ye brought again that which was driven away,

neither have ye sought that which was lost.

BUT with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.

AND they were scattered and became meat to all when they were scattered.

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THEREFORE, ye shepherds, hear the voice of the Lord

As I live, says the Lord God

Surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat for all

I will require my flock at your hand,

and will cause you to cease from feeding the flock.

Neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more;

for I will deliver my flock from their mouth that they may not be meat for them.

GOD IS RIGHTEOUS JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH. We should FEAR to ignore His LAW.

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LAST SATURDAY evening - well it was really 3a.m. on Sunday Morning...MANU had a serious motor accident. He had borrowed our old Peugeot. We are unsure even now as to why he was out in the town so late, but it seems that he had taken alcohol. He was seen driving alone at speed going the wrong way in a one way street. He came upon a round-a-bout FAST and in trying to avoid it drove the car head on into a brick wall, narrowly missing a shop window. He was NOT wearing a seat belt. His head hit the windscreen and the steering well pushed into his stomach. His left leg was pressed under the dashboard. He passed out. When he came round he phoned us and I got up, and calling Daryl we both hurried into town. Whilst Manu had been unconscious he was robbed of his money and his shoes! Amazing. Perhaps they thought he was dead. We got him out of the car some 40 minutes after the accident actually happened. Early morning bystanders just standing about; no one had tried to help him. No Police fortunately. Entire front of the car was crumpled but the engine was untouched. So much for the strength of the older makes of Peugeot 1992! Saved Man's life - or was it an Angel? Yes, I believe it WAS an Angel. We took him to hospital and he was admitted. No bones broken, headache, and stomach cramps. He was kept in hospital for four days and is convalescing with us till tomorrow. He is fine now. NO more driving any of OUR vehicles though. They Peugeot might not get repaired quickly - if at all - since spare parts are VERY hard to find these days for that model, and also even more expensive. Might have to sell it for scrap. We thank God for His Mercies and continue to pray for Manu.

LAST NIGHT ALL OUR CHILDREN watching the Ghana Match and waking the dead when they SCORED, and crying with real tears when they LOST. Soccer!!!! The whole world is caught up with kicking a ball, whilst the End of the World is in view!

God Bless you all yet again for yet another week. We love you too!

John and Esther