We Wish you all, from deep within our hearts -
                A VERY BLESSED 
                           EASTER

TODAY IS GOOD FRIDAY
All is well with our soul, here in Testimony Faith HOMES, and we are also in the midst of sorrow and joy MIXED, as we Remember DEATH Jesus endured for our sake, and the RESURRECTION to prove we too can share in His LIFE.

This morning Daryl and some of the children put on a very moving presentation of the life and ministry of our dear Lord, ending with the crucifixion.  It was all done in mime, but costumed and it brought a few tears to many eyes as we saw again the LOVE of God for us all in the Man JESUS and all he revealed to us, and finally DID for us.

LAST NIGHT we all remembered PASSOVER as we remembered the 'Last Supper' with Jesus and the Disciples, sharing in a meal of Roasted Lamb with bitter herbs and and unleavened bread  -   NO, it was not exactly following the whole Jewish Tradition, but adapted to allow for an otherwise normal evening meal.     We began by recounting the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt though, and ended with a family prayer and Breaking of Bread as related in the Gospels.       Always a wonderful time.



NOW we are just welcoming our Easter visitors - our little daughter Hellen from Nairobi and also our nephew, Martin Mwaura, and his wife and family.     TOMORROW the Wedding of Esther Mbithi, which will involve EVERYONE since ALL the staff and children of Testimony will attend.     We pray for a fair day since it has now begun to RAIN seriously.







THEN ON SUNDAY,  our REAL Rejoicing will dawn upon us as we yet again remember the Resurrection.     YES,  we DO believe that JESUS rose up from the tomb and yet LIVES.     The most wonderful date in our calender.         Obviously not all of us that are here BELIEVE in any of this - just those who have COME to know it - not by rote or learning, but by 'experience'' -  To KNOW God  IS an experience - one that is quite incontrovertible.        It makes room for those who have not yet arrived..... and usually the whole place somehow is affected by the joy and atmosphere ........and ALWAYS more of those who didn't  know, enter into an unexpected experience as they 'meet' the real and resurrected LORD face to face.     

I know you will have forgiven me for only sharing a Greeting with you.     This is not the time to indulge in other matters - we are CAUGHT UP in the Wonder of God's Love.
May HE Bless you and bring you to share more and more in this same Wonder.

With Gladness and Thanksgiving to you all

John and Esther & Daryl and Carol  

EMOTIONAL CONFLICT

GENERAL WILLIAM BOOTH was a man raised up for a special purpose with a special Vision for the Day.    He also was a man of clear perception as to where the world was headed, and the words remembered and quoted here seem indeed very apt in relation to the 20th Century, and perhaps increasingly so in our current 21st Century.

It will soon be EASTER, the most important Religious Festival in the World, if you really consider what it commemorates, and how much its abiding Truth can change a human being and even the entire world!.      BUT it is remembered less and less as Christianity loses its LIFE.   The very Truth it proclaims is being obliterated by the WORLD, so that its Blessings, as well as its alternatives are more and more hidden from our understanding.    

Esther Mbith & Fiancee

TODAY  I was looking on the web for symbols and images of EASTER.     I was confronted with page after page of pictures of Easter Eggs, bunny-rabbits, and holidaying.....Where was the Cross on which JESUS died for us all?      Where the Empty Tomb?       Easter these days is purely pleasurable - a time to be 'Off Work',  At Rest, With the Family!    A time to eat and make merry, and maybe have a romp or too - and this even within the fraternity of the Christian Church.
WHAT IS EASTER to US?

NEXT Saturday Esther and I will be attending a Wedding.    Not just any Wedding but the Marriage of our grand-daughter in the Lord, Esther Mbithi,  Joshua and Miriam's daughter.   On the face of it rather surprising to think of having a Wedding at Easter - at least on Easter Saturday the day AFTER the Crucifixion of our Lord and BEFORE He has risen from the Tomb.     It seems almost unthinkable to enter into revelry on such a day of memorable sorrow and heartache.
There is some mitigation for it on this particular occassion since the DATE for Easter had been wrongly publiscised, and arrangements went ahead on the basis of Easter being a week later than it actually is this year.      Too late to change?   Yes indeed it is.     THUS we shall be scooped up from meditation of His Dying for us, and of his buriel and decent into Hell, and thrown into the expected atmosphere of a Wedding with a throng of excited, merry, and joyous people, gathered to witness two beloved youngsters joined in matrimony - a Day to Remember, in the midst of GLOOM and ANGUISH.             Well, yes it will seem a bit like that I suppose.     But, on the other hand, life does go on, and it undoubtedly went on the day after the Crucifixion as well.   After all no one knew it was to happen, and no one could have realised or previously been prepared for all that it was to mean.      On THAT day social events had been planned and had to go on, no matter how heavy the heart, or how inappropriate it might seem.       Such would have been forgiven them and will no doubt be forgiven now.         It WILL be a happy occassion entered into on an UNHAPPY day, and it WILL be Blessed of a Merciful, Gracious and Understanding God who is Father to us all.    

Because we shall be attending this Wedding, I may have no time to sit down and write much next Saturday - though I hope to at least send Easter Greetings to all.   It will be a busy time.     Esther and I will be having a married nephew and his wife and children staying with us, and also Joshua and Miriam will be having a full house of relatives, and even friends from Gurnsey.

HERE IN TFH we shall begin our Easter Remembrance on Thursday evening.    In 2009 we ALL, staff and children, came together on Maunday Thursday evening to eat a common meal together in the School Hall; a meal of roasted lamb, bitter herbs and unleavened bread - after which we all broke bread together.      It was such a very real blessing to remember the Last Supper in this way, that each year since we have continued it, though not all together in one place.    Since 2010 each of our four Family Homes have provided for their own family supper together.      Esther and I will also celebrate in Green Cottage with family and friends.       After supper we sing hymns, and talk about the Lord and spend a little time praying together.      A blessed prelude to the Good Friday morning Service.        Saturday some will gather to see the Video JESUS whilst we are at the Wedding.     THEN on Sunday the JOYFUL Resurrection Day Morning Service and happy fellowship.        BUT the most important day for us will be Good Friday when we remember Jesus Crucified on Calvary for our sins.     A hymn by F.A. Graves says it all -

What a wonderful, wonderful Saviour,

Who would die on the cross for me!

Freely shedding His precious lifeblood,

That the sinner might be made free

He was nailed to the cross for me,

He was nailed to the cross for me.

On the cross crucified

for me He died!

He was nailed to the cross for me.

Thus He left His heavenly glory

to accomplish His Father's Plan;

He was born of the Virgin Mary,

took upon Him the form of man

He was wounded for our transgressions

and He carried our sorrows too;

He's the Healer of every sickness

This He came to the world to do.

SO He gave His life for others

In redeeming this world from sin,

And He's gone to prepare a mansion,

That at last we may enter in.

Charles Wesley also captures my own personal wonder and amazement in his hymn -

'And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Saviour's Blood?

Died He for me, who caused His pain?   For ME, who Him to death pursued?

Amazing Love!     How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for ME?'

ME at 1+

YES, HOW CAN IT BE?   The more so that I should come to understand and KNOW that it DID happen, and that it happened FOR me!   How is that I should KNOW this, deep in my spirit?    How is that such as I was, deep into a selfish and self centred life, could ever come to know myself to BE a sinner, astray from God...?    It is a mystery to me even today.  Wesley continues in this same hymn to testify and say -

'Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and natures's night;

Then eye diffused a quickening ray - I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was freed, I rose went forth, and followed Thee!'

As I have grown older I have been the more amazed, as the implication of this has dawned increasingly upon me.   He died for ME!     Perhaps age and experience teaches us the depth of degradation that is within us all, but I do understand that I am a far worse person, left to myself, than I ever knew myself to be when I was a youth.

It is likely that I was born out of wedlock, the fruit of immorality.  Yet I was born, and immediately given up and adopted.  I grew up for the most part unchurched and untutored in any faith.  My adopted father an habitual drunkard, and my adopted mother, flighty and unfaithful.   YET, in the midst of beery brawls and illicit romances somehow I grew up conscious of GOD.   I intuitively KNEW there was a God, and that He was there for me.    That is in itself a mystery to me!

But I grew up, nonetheless, selfish and liberal in my manners.  I learned to drink inordinately, was pre-occupied with sexual imaginations, not always convenient.  Unlearned, often dishonest, emotionally unbalanced, and introspective, a life imprisoned.      Would I have done for myself, what Jesus did for me?   I think not.   Why, I was not even calling out for help; was continuing on my downward, heedless plunge to self destruction - without a care, and without happiness.   When eleven years old I could still not read - even a three letter word!    It was as if my mind was blocked and unable to recognise letters.    But, one evening when I was ten a half, I picked up reader called 'A Dog called Spot' and found myself reading it easily all the way to the end!   It was as if someone had turned a key in my mind and unlocked a door; light dawned, and where I had been blind and unable, suddenly I could see and understand.    So it also was when I was seventeen that I also one day opened my spiritual eyes and found Jesus.   My life was then turned inside out.  And the words of John Newton became true for me also -

I once was lost, but now am found;

was blind, but now I see!'

Every day since then has been a day of discovery - not always to my credit, but always towards my improvement.      And I have striven to apprehend and know more and more of His Love.

Oh Lord!  Help me to know you more and more for Who and What you are in my life.

Help me not to spoil or tarnish Your Life given up for me, to make a mockery of it in any way.

Help me to live Your Life.

Help me to be truly dead, YOU to be seen alive in me!

As YOU stood in for ME in front of my Accusers, and took my punishment upon Yourself,

so now stand in for me again, making YOU life to be MY life.

MORE than a role model I would have you be;

YOU must be my LIFE, in thought, and word, and deed.

==========================

TOMORROW, I am the one presenting the Word of God once more.    This time I shall be sharing about the Grace of God in our hearts - how to take care that it does not fail us, that it might ever be there for others, as sit is for us.      How this is part of LIVING a holy life, and will prevent us from judging and hurting others, and from degenerating back into a flesh pleasing mind as we were BEFORE we received His New Life, and new HEART and MIND.     Pray for me to be honest and truthful in all I may be led to say - and that His Spirit will guide me.

On Tuesday we (all administrative staff) will meet to discuss finance generally relative to the running of the Homes and the School.    Esther, Daryl and I will be part with those others attending inclusive of other heads of department and the Finance Office      We usually meet once a fortnight on a regular basis.

On Wednesday morning Daryl and I will attend the Children's Forum once more during he morning, and later in the day, about 5.30p.m. we shall have a quarterly meeting of our Board of Management.

In between all this, of course, the daily chores and events of routine matters.    Visits to the Homes,  daily inspection of the different parts of the work - the Dairy, the Bakery, the Poultry and Gardens, and the progress of the swimming pool.     Meeting staff with problems, visitors, and visits to town on business.     Never a dull moment - though often under fire of that old enemy who never tires of launching his fiery darts at us all.         Thank God we stand and run not alone but with the Lord of Hosts.

THREE more children will be Admitted to Testimony House on Monday.    Will hope to send a photo and share more about them later on.     Till then our Love as always flows to you all in Jesus Name, as we pray for your own anticipation of His Blessing over Easter

John and Esther & Daryl and Carol.

AS TIME GOES BY...!

THIS IS A PHOTO TAKEN IN FEBRUARY 2012 of my sister Pat Wilson.     Pat and I met for the first time in 2011 when I was 72 and she was 73.     Seventy one years had gone by without sight, sound or even knowledge of each other.      The first thing Pat in fact said when we met on her Birthday in Scotland in 2011 was ' WHY!  Why did we have to wait a life time to know each other?'
Pat had a stroke a year or so before we met, soon after her husband had passed away, and although this left her with a slight speech debility she remained well and strong, driving her own car, and living alone.   In 2012 she and her son and daughter in law visited us here in Kenya and stayed at Testimony for almost a full month, or more.    It was a very happy time....but all too short.      Scotland is quite a long way away from Kenya, and WE do not travel to UK often.      Pat's stroke also left her with a writing problem so she could not reply to letters I might write to her.    She is without access to the Internet and so we could not communicate that way either.     Telephone was left as an option, but our lines have been out or on the blink for more than a year (main line) and this and other complications meant that we did not speak very often successfully.       It has been difficult to bare a separation that previously did not affect us.        Each of us grew up as an only child.     NOW we needed to be together and could not.      Was God teasing us. and if He was, wasn't it a little cruel?   It might certainly seem so!   BUT NO.......I do believe God has something in mind that He will accomplish in our discovery of each other, and of each others family.     AND I believe it will ultimately work for GOOD if we can BELIEVE for it - even now as I write this.
YESTERDAY my sister had a SECOND very strong stroke and was rushed to hospital.    Last night the doctors were not too hopeful she would come through, and Esther and I took ourselves to prayer.   But this morning we have heard that on waking she was able to get out of bed, and to walk around.    She seemed a little 'confused' but otherwise aware of her situation, and strong as ever.      We thank God for it.     Our son Steven and daughter Elisabeth have both travelled up to Scotland from Manchester to be with her and with her son Harvey.

Well many of us are - in our seventies - beginning to notice signs of wear and tear in our physical and even mental condition.     Some of need 'oiling and greasing' from time to time - and some of us could probably do with a complete 'makeover'.       As a diabetic myself I certainly at times am conscious of 'change' in my 'body suit' and even in my 'electric circuitry'.      As we all get older we need more careful maintenance after we attain seventy years.     There are obviously exceptions but  generally we see life after seventy presenting us with more restrictions and 'prescriptions'!   As the Bible points out in Psalm 90v10 'The days of our years are threescore and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.........'      Quite an apprehensive picture of old age  -   not that we should, as Believers, dwell morbidly or fearfully upon it.........yet we must surely accept,  AS TIME GOES BY, that each new day is a day of grace.       But perhaps you might be kind, and remember my sister, and me - that if it is possible God will arrange for us even yet to have more days to get to know appreciate and be a blessing to each other.

TALKING OF AGEING brings me back to Testimony House.     Some weeks back I mentioned that some of the exterior walls were cracking and giving cause for concern - after a hundred years of weathering and ageing in front of the tropical assault of sun and rain.        We managed to have this particular wear repaired with inserted iron rods and a 'makeover' of new plaster.    We were careful to use the same materials and methods used when the house was built in 1908/10, and it now looks fine.       BUT this week we noticed an INSIDE wall dividing the sitting room with the dining room was also cracking.     Our builder was called to look at it, and to remove the exterior plaster to see more clearly the condition of the wall - a two foot thick, mud brick wall.    He was astonished not only see the condition of the bricks, but also to see that no cement mortar had been used to bind the bricks together, but instead only 'dung' and grass mixed together.      When we further explained to him that the house, in excess of an area of some 2,250sq.ft and roofed by enormously heavy corrugated iron sheets nailed to even heavier trusses and beams made of IRON WOOD,  had itself NO foundations.      The house is in fact built on rough hewn boulders sited directly on the surface of the ground, and dressed with dung and grass mortar on which the sun baked mud bricks are in fact laid.     The builder could not believe it - and went off mumbling that if a house so large could last so long he might as well save himself money and build one like it - and keep away from foundations, footings, sand. cement and stonework...........    

The sitting room/dining-room walls are looking good now, the plaster replaced and just the painting to be done on Monday.   I wish all the human deterioration and erosion in the world could be so easily dealt with!     Well of course it WILL, one day.    That Day when the Trumpet Sounds, and We - all of us BELIEVERS in Christ Jesus - are changed, in the twinkling of an eye!    What a day that will be, no creaking joints any more, no involuntary flatulence, no frequent trips to the bathroom,dentist, consultant, doctor, and no longer failing teeth, eyes or ears.   Oh my....even so COME lord Jesus and let us all individually together, RENEWED and REMADE in a form unable to be corrupted, aged or, destroyed by any sin in us, or our environment, enter into LIFE - new and everlasting life of a calibre and fullness we cannot yet even begin to understand or appreciate.

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THIS WEEK on Thursday afternoon I had a session with our School Teachers in which I spoke to them on Hebrews 12v15 'Take care lest any man fail of the grace of God.....

I had been struck by these words quite recently - to my shame.     The way it spoke to me was by asking me if I was failing of the grace of God;  was I running short of this 'commodity'.     Was I gracious to others as much as God was and continued to be gracious to ME?     Was I kind to the undeserving and unthankful?    Was I ready to overlook what I found offensive, unattractive or annoying in others - of the family of God first, and then to all comers.      Proverbs says that it is the delight of a 'good man' to do so, but is it my delight....am I a good man?      I found the answer to be a disturbing NO, and this made me go on and examine myself to see IF Jesus did in fact LIVE in my heart, or mind, my very self.      I did manage to conclude that He did (else why was I bothered about it) but that I tended to ignore HIM.     Oh dear.   It is so easy to NOT practise the Presence of God in our moment by moment lives.     It is difficult.    It is impossible ?     BUT I have no excuse NOT let JESUS  LIVE.     He gave His Live for me that I should let Him live in me.    Forgive me Lord.   Help me LORD - please DO truly and really come into my heart, my mind, and DO GOOD,  BE KIND to the undeserving and unattractive.     It has been and still is a challenge to me.     I have yet again discovered how deaf and blind I can be to His Will at work in me.    

KENYA remains generally peaceful except on certain university campuses where the upper crust of our learned youth ignorantly, and unlearnedly show themselves willing to be disgraceful.   Mostly their anger has been based in mistaken assumptions and immature behaviour.     Not for the first time and no doubt not the last.

The Country is quiet.    The current 'losers' in the General Election are presenting their Petition to overturn the Result in the Court today.      We have yet to see what it will generate amongst the watching and waiting citizenry.     There may yet be 'uproar'.     We continue in prayer, trusting the Mighty Hand of God will restrain all unrest and social upheaval.     Surely a time for God's Grace.

If CORD could only have grace enough to suffer, accept, forgive, and WAIT for the next Election in 2018!     Or just WAIT on events.......If only THEY could trust God.     It would be so good for the Country and the People  But it is not in man, it seems (with Bible agreement) to know how to arrange his life.    THUS please do pray on for us all.     This next week should be revealing.

God Bless and be with you all,     Keep awake, keep AWARE, and keep Expectant............

Lovingly

John and Esther & Daryl  and Carol

KENYA HAS A PRESIDENT!!

Mr.Uhuru Kenyatta

AFTER FIVE DAYS of 'waiting' and as Votes were laboriously counted, TODAY the Country has woken up to the news - UHURU KENYATTA is our President!       THE time is 7.20 a.m. in Kenya as I write this......TV is loudly proclaiming him - AND at the same time saying it will not be officially confirmed until 11a.m.!!   BUT the people are in the streets rejoicing ......   The whole week Mr. Kenyatta has led the race, and the whole week the Electoral Commission has played a game of 'cat and mouse' and for five days done their best to DELAY clear explanations of what was happening.     It has otherwise been an orderly and peaceful process; VERY different from 2007 when the Election erupted into violence.     The general atmosphere today (accepting the disappointment of the other contenders and their followers) is still one of calm, and relief that life can now go on.

WHEN I SET FOOT IN  KENYA in 1968 JOMO ~KENYATTA was President.   He was the FIRST President, rough, tough, and a modern autocrat.     Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta is this president's son, and will be the FOURTH President.       We now must wait and see what kind of President he will be.      Whatever character his Government might take, it will be entirely different from that of Jomo Kenyatta's, who ruled almost as a dictator.    We have a NEW Constitution now, one that severely restricts the powers of the President, and which is already changing the face of Kenya.        BUT I will take a rest at this point and WAIT till the 11 o'clock Announcement.     I must be sure you get the RIGHT information.

Mr. Jomo Kenyatta

It is NOW ten minutes PAST eleven in the morning, and the promised Announcements still not given - Kenya's usual problem with TIME and punctuality in particular.  We are expecting visitors at any time ourselves, so I have already written the rest of the Blog whilst delaying to make this short 'insert'.    It is 11.40a.m. now, and all are seated in the Nairobi venue - waiting still for the advertised Announcement to tell us 'once and for all' (we hope) exactly who IS the President Elect!    TIME GOES BY!!    It is now 12.40p.m......and STILL no sign of this Announcement.      Keep calm, Green, you should be very much used to WAITING by now!      Well I think I must cease to wait on this occassion in order that I do not lose my opportunity to send this week's Blog.      It seems safe to say that whatever the 'Announcement' might be it WILL merely confirm that Uhuru Kenyatta IS the President Elect......we trust there will not be a lot of opposition to this so that matters can take their course, and Government be able to press forward.       We HOPE they will not press forward as they have begun - with continuing delays, procrastinations, and seeming inability to plan ahead with some certainty.     Probably too much to hope since, in forty years, I have never been surprised by appointments, promises, or agreed procedures being kept without delay and excuses.      It is part of the social scene.    


THIS YEAR will see Testimony Faith Homes celebrate, God Willing, its 44th Birthday.    I will celebrate in December of this year, 45 years in Kenya.   The Country was only five years old as an independent Nation when I arrived.       It had passed from Colonial Government to that of a free Republic tightly led by a very single minded man.     Slowly Kenya has undertaken quite a choppy transition from a One Party to a multi party State in which the full fruits of 'democracy' are still ripening.      Kenya has advanced and is still advancing.  
Will Testimony Faith Homes find its own place in this onward and progressive surge toward change and advancement?      Testimony Faith Homes is in fact also in a time of 'transition and change'.      As its first Director I am now slowly seeing things go forward under my successor.     From just two small boys that I took into care in 1969 we have seen three hundred others come and go, until now we currently care for a regular number of some 140 boys and girls.     BUT, whereas, when I began the numbers of neglected children was not so much in evidence, and ways to help such children were many and welcome,  today it is different.   Today there are upwards of 2.8 million children in need all very much in evidence, BUT with ways and means to help them severely hampered by new government legislation based on sociological theory rather than practical common sense.     Where, initially, our own small assistance in reaching out to disadvantaged children at risk in the community was accepted with appreciation, we are now viewed purely as a 'tool' of the government, permitted only to help according to their own dictate.        This poses a lot of question and consideration right now and also for the future.      There are changes on the way.     We are not alarmed about this.   We know that God walks with us.     He has walked with us along the way all the years that are past, and He will continue to do so as long as we trust in Him, and look to Him day by day.

We, today, encourage you to remember the people of Kenya, and the children of Kenya that we have with us here in TFH as we together prepare to enter a new era under a new Government and Constitution.        We are praying for an increased sense of 'nationhood' that will over-ride tribal culture and tradition, and be the means of bringing cohesion to National identity.     Many have FEARED that this past week would see a repeat of the 2007 Trouble and Violence.      It is truly a cause of much REJOICING to see the opposite come to pass - PEACEFUL CALM and patience in the entire Country.     This must be landmark in Kenyan political history.  
The WEEK had passed quietly - almost boringly!     Shops shut, schools shut, and the majority away from work for the duration of the Election process.    Eldoret almost an empty shell during the period.     As from Monday things will be back to normal.     The CLOUD has passed over us, and life will go on.       WE are all well.   The children ready to resume school.    The weather has been glorious - hot and golden.    We Thank God for what has seemed purely and simply like a 'holiday'!     We thank Him for keeping us all in peace.

Our Love to you all in Jesus

John and Esther & Daryl and Carol

HERE WE ALL GO AGAIN!!

ALL LINED UP AND READY TO GO!!   These are the EIGHT vying for the post of PRESIDENT of Kenya, who will go to the polls on MONDAY 4th March.    Quite a mixed bag of tricks!!     Polls are suggesting that either the 2nd or 3rd from the left are the favourites (Mr. Raila Odinga and Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta), with the 3rd so far in front SLIGHTLY.     The 'popular' vote.    Perhaps not the most sensible or intelligent.      ANY of the remaining SIX might in fact be preferable to the TWO.    But the majority vote will decide what Kenya will be blessed with for the next four years.     WE may not express our views in this Blog since we are pledged to be 'non political' as a Charity, and thus, although all our divergent workers will be voting on Monday (except this loyal servant of HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN), we may not as an entity express our preferences.      Just TWO days to go!      

The LAST Election was on the 27th December 2007.      It erupted into violence and mayhem throughout Kenya, and Eldoret was then one of the chief focal points of it all.      Disturbances continued for almost two months.     Our daughter Elisabeth and her two children were with us throughout Christmas and into the New Year.    Quite scary for her husband left pastoring in England, but SHE was ready to give a fight to any that might have been brave enough to come looking for one.       It WAS scary - but the Lord also gave us stout hearts and even a MERRY spirit.  In the photo she is standing in front of our little Christmas Tree in Green Cottage with a Turkana Spear and a Carving knife from the kitchen.    She does not LOOK very fearsome, but behind the smile is a brave heart.
Everyone is NOW seemingly rooting for PEACE, and the general consensus is that 'this time round' there will be no unrest, and no violence.     Certainly it is the prayer of all that are trusting in God.     BUT there is still a certain tension in the air, and it is clear that everyone is a little on edge WAITING for the Day to Come.     WE ourselves feel AT PEACE within ourselves, and generally confident that things will go off quietly.   Our HOPE is in God, and not in ANY man.     We know no man is to be trusted; we are all unreliable, even the best of us - we WAIT for our Redemption when the last vestiges of SIN at work in us will be removed.   THAT is the DAY that I am looking forward to with all my heart.
TODAY the Candidates are all running around seeking last minute votes.    Otherwise all is quiet and normal.
Tomorrow is Sunday and there will be no political activity.    It IS the Lord's Day.     THEN comes Monday, and maybe, WHO KNOWS, perhaps a Miracle - and the current first may become last, and current last FIRST.      With God nothing is impossible.         BUT, in the end, as I have in another place suggested, God will do what is 'good' for the situation in which we find ourselves.      We will trust HIM to give us what we NEED as a nation, and what will eventually prosper us.      Whatever the outcome of this Election, GOD is able to keep those that are His safe and sound for as long as it takes.      HALLELUJAH!

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WE SENSE THE ENEMY all around us, in the work here, and in the Nation.       We may not recount or share everything that we feel affected by.     There are very deep challenges to the ministry here in TFH, and also to the Nation.     

The sun and sky are brilliant and cheer filled, and our co-workers and children all have happy faces and there is laughter in the camp!      Of course!    The LORD our God is with us and the Holy Spirit also moves amongst us.      It is not 'depression' but oppression, in a sense.      All is not well................

This week our big cow, Rosie gave birth to twin calfs;  they were still-born.  Such a sadness for her, and she has mourned loudly for three days now.    We are not too sure yet why this happened as she has given birth safely before.    The Vet will search it out.     A set back for us also as the milk yield will be a little interrupted as well due to our other three cows being de-wormed - part of a regular program.     BUT otherwise we do remain with two calves, a bull and a heifer.    They and their mothers all moved from Testimony House to Tyndale Cottage Compound.     This to make way for the Swimming pool development, which continues on, and will hopefully be completed sometime in April.     We have been delayed there a little bit due to a number of rainy days that were very unexpected, and rather caught the builder out.

THIS WEEK THE HIGH SCHOOL FORM 1V results have come out.    They were not very good.  WE had only ONE B+ out of 39 candidates.      Partly, there is little doubt, the Government is a little to blame, since it suddenly changed examination dates in the middle of the School Term and threw everyone - students and teachers - right out of gear.     Nationally ALL the results are disappointing with only 1000 students with a Mean Grade of C+ and over.     A lot of VERY disappointed youngsters, including some of ours.      The summer sunshine certainly seemed to DIM for many yesterday when the results were announced.

Quite a number of you have again been asking about the Reprint of the Book.    It is still available as from -  FASTPRINT  www.fast-print.net/store.php       ISBN 978-184426-861-0      The edition has been updated to 2008, but is not illustrated.     It is also a bit pricey.      If you wanted to go to the trouble of bringing it down I could send it to you via E-mail as we have the entire text on computer.     If you would like a copy I can arrange to send it to you.  (197 A4 pages).  Just let me know.      In fact this unpublished copy is a little more up to date and more accurate than the FastPrint copy.       Please also note that if you go for the FastPrint edition you will find the publisher has stated on page iii that the book is fictional.  This is of course in itself untrue and an error on the part of the printer.

Right now the School is SHUT until the 11th March - our Half-term extended to take in the Election.    Very quiet once more.

This is about all for this week.    A short edition for a change.     We do wish you all well, and trust that the Lord our God is blessing YOU, and giving you every hope in ever day.    There is no doubt in our mind that the KING is coming SOON.      Keep a watch, and don't be caught out.

Our much Love to you all in Jesus Name


John and Esther & Daryl and Carol