PEOPLE IN OUR LIVES

THIS IS A PHOTO OF Harvey and Marion my most recent nephew and niece!!     The are having a brief refreshment whilst shopping in the heat and tumult of Eldoret's rush hour streets.  They caught the sun - just a little - and may well already have lost it again since returning to freezing Scotland on Wednesday this week.  They also caught Testimonyitis and may never be free of it!   The children loved them as if they had known them for ever, and they had very good times together.      We are always delighted when folk come and want to take an interest in the children.     It is very rewarding to all concerned, and we just love to see them happy.
Almost every day of their two week stay they were followed everywhere by laughing and happy kids.     They are now very definitely Aunt and Uncle to all.
THANK you both for opening up YOUR hearts to our children and becoming immediately part and parcel of THEIR family as well as ours!    
Whilst here they did a lot of exploring for themselves, took a lot of photos and videos.     Also tried their hand at cooking, sport, and Marion even joined Internal Security and did a turn at the Main Entrance Gate!!       They were willing workers, outgoing and friendly to all.

NOW THEY HAVE GONE,  leaving their Mum, my SISTER, still with us for about another three weeks.     She seems fully of spunk and a 'ready for anything' attitude to our Mad Compound.       She is often left on her own, however, since both Esther and I both have time when we must be away, and about the compound.     But we still spend a lot of time and fellowship with each other and we hope her time here will be more and more enjoyable as days go by - perhaps she won't want to go home!!?

Just to divide this letter here are a few views of the School.     The first on the left shows the double storey tuition block at the end of which, in front of the tree, will be the 4 new classrooms joined on. On the right is where the new Boarding Hostel will be built.

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MANY YEARS AGO, in 1969 I was just beginning this ministry in rented property in MASENO, Western Kenya.     During that time I met a Norwegian Lady who was also working temporarily in Kenya.   Her name was, and still remains,  GRETA RIMINGTION.      We got to know each other quite well and then she returned to Norway.      We lost touch for many years but later she sent me a book that she had written and put together with illustrations of some of her Artwork.     GRETA is in fact a gifted creative artist.  She paints a lot, but she especially felt God leading her into ecclesiastical artwork.    This found an outlook in producing priestly stoles and vestments, and also altar clothes and fronts.       Reading her book and for the first time also getting to know something more about her Christian Testimony, as well as SEEING God's Spirit at work through her fingers was a very moving and wonderful thing for me.     It is remarkable and wonderful, the people God brings into our lives to leave a mark or memory that will in fact add to the sum result of who we ourselves individually are.   This photo was taken circa 2004.
I am going to share a little of her story here as it was printed in 2004 when she was 70.

FROM HER STUDIO in Son, Greta Rimington looks out on a calm and cold Oslo Fjord.   In front of her easel she is working intensely on a new motive "Shooting Stars".  It is the first in a series entitled "The Universe".   Whilst painting she finds that she is one moment in the present, and the next she is a small girl looking at stars with her father Claude Rimington.  At the age of 70 the artist is ready to tell her story, looking for the golden thread and the hand that has drawn the patterns in the tapestry of her life.   She strives to find a harmony that was once, but that then disintegrated early on in here life. 

Greta was born in Pretoria, South Africa on 13th February 1933.    Her father Claude Rimington was an English scientist, and her mother Soffi was Norwegian.    After a few years the family moved back to Europe, settling after the war in England.   Greta attended St. Helen's School for Girls in Northwood in North London.     On finishing she went on to attend The Slade School of Fine Art at University College, London.     On finishing, instead of pursuing Art, she decided to enter the Teaching profession.     She explored the possibility of teaching in Africa, but eventually took up opportunities to teach Art in Norway.

Her story is an alternating one of joy and pain.   Early on she appeared to be mature beyond  her years.   As she grew older she gave the impression of being an independent and adventurous woman.  Yet the ice that encased her heart as a child had created a shell preventing her from really experiencing joy to the full.

Only later in life does the cold heart start to thaw.   Her mother Soffi, died in 1982.   After her death Greta took the dramatic step of becoming a full time artist.  With the constant support of her father an ever widening circle of friends she moved into the most creative period of her life -painting, designing and decorating church interiors.   It was also at this time that she moved from an intellectual commitment to God, to a warmer embrace of Jesus Christ.   Her belief is in Christ as a warm and close life-giving force.  In her art she wants to give a positive indication of this.

At 70 Greta is flowering both as an artist and as a person.She is more productive than ever. Her inner journey has given hr more insight and answers.   She is no longer tied and bound by her past.   With a childlike inquisitiveness she is still on a voyage of discovery in art and faith.     

Greta is an inspiration to us all to keep on going on.     Especially those of us who have passed death to life, we need to enter into the never ending aspect of our Life, and cease looking for our physical death as at best an interruption.      We have every reason to look and to plan ahead.!

Much Love to you all.    I shall be giving the Word of God once more tomorrow morning and will value your prayers.     The last in the Series it will be of course Thou Shalt Not COVET..

Sincerely


John and Esther