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R-L Jesse Ronata,  Betty Wanjiru,  Maureen Cherop, and John Kanyingi.

FOUR MORE LEAVERS!    Jesse Ronata, Betty Wanjiru, Maureen Cherop, and John Kanyingi, all poised to leave Testimony Home, their family group, to set up on their own, earning their own living and happily independent.      They really look happy in this picture, and indeed I think they really are happy.  In the photo they are have just cut their 'Going Away Cake, and are getting ready to hand it round to their brothers and sisters and other members of their family.
The Function took place in TESTIMONY HOUSE their 'family home'.       Esther and I were there, Daryl and Carol, and also Hesketh and Alice Muli - all at one time 'Mum and Dad in Testimony House.
I was First Dad from 1969 to '71 when I married Esther and then together we were Dad and Mum until 1998.     In that year Daryl and Carol took over as parents for the next 8 years and then Hesketh and Alice took over from them.     Also joining in for the occasion were Joe and Beatrice Rop from Jacaranda Cottage, Francis and Eunice Lahol from Drakely, and Micah and Senge Yego from Tyndale together with a few other friends of the family including Pastor Wyjkiffe Ondanga, himself an old boy. A full house of about sixty.      There was singing, prayer, encouragement and a very special joyful and excited atmosphere.      Very informal, very poignant, very memorable. Each of those now preparing to leave the Home were presented with a Bible and gift of Seventy two pounds sterling (approximately Ksh,10,000/-) as a small stake in their new life, made possible by TFH Christian Fellowship as from their Sunday Offerings.
Pastor Wykcliffe gave a brief word from the Bible, and I did my best to encourage and to remind each one to trust in the Lord and to go hand in hand with Him into this new chapter of their lives.     Many others, adults, children, all family members, wanted to add a word.    It was a GOOD time, at times serious, and at the same time fun, and full of laughter.
AND in any case none were going far away except one.

THREE of our Girls from the Testimony House Family will be moving out in the course of the next week.     Two are Primary School Teachers, and one is an Accountant still pursuing her CPA whilst she works.
JESSE RONATA is 24, one of a family of four that have all been part of the Testimony House family.
They all came to stay with us in 2000, twelve years ago.    They had all lost their parents to AIDS and a missionary couple that had taken them under their wing were leaving the Country;   knowing Daryl and Carol who were then Mum and Dad at Testimony House, they asked if TFH could help in providing a home.      It was not an easy transition for any of these children, but they have all managed to make it through school, and the many challenges of teenage, into the unpredictable waters of adult life.     JESSE is the last to leave, and she does so as a trained and gifted teacher, whose faith in God has been the strength of her life.    She would like especially to work with Special Need Children, and will be working with TFHs Special Unit for Slow Learners for the next year.     We are very proud and happy for her.
BETTY WANJIRU is also 24 and arrived with her four brothers in May 1998, fifteen years ago.   She is also the last but one of her brothers and sisters to leave home - although she is really still within the compound!     She is employed by TFH School Accounts Office as an assistant Bursar, and is also the Warden of the Hostel for 40 High School Girls.    Quite a demanding post, but she is well able to cope with it all; a little lady of distinction.      She leaves a brother who has just completed his Form 4 Secondary education.     Three other of her brothers are all in Banking or Accounts, and already away from home.    Their father, and mother both, succumbed to AIDS, but before he passed away, their Father came to see us and to appeal to us to take care of his children.    We agreed, and he legally directed in his Will that on his death we would become their Guardians.  He passed away just a few months later.   They have all done well in every way, and if he had lived he would have been a proud father indeed.
MAUREEN CHEROP is 20 and came to stay with her elder sister and three brothers in 1994 nineteen years ago.     All five children had been suddenly orphaned by the death of their single mother.  Always very affectionate and well behaved each one has grown up through school to find employment. Maureen is the last to do so.      She chose teaching as a career and was accepted in training.   She has just accepted an appointment about 150 kilometres away from us, but still will be able to visit without too great a difficulty.     Maureen recently lost her fiancee in the Nairobi Westgate Shopping Mall disaster.    But she is a young lady full of optimism and faith in God.    She will make it through life.
For the first four years of her stay Esther and I became her parents.     Cannot help but be glad and proud to see her facing life now with confidence.
JOHN KANYINGI, is now 27.     He came to stay with us in 1999 with his sister Dorkas.    He may be younger than his Birth Certificate states, but there is no real way to tell.      On Admission to Testimony he was supposed to be 9.       The Birth Certificate arrived later....?       John has always been of a quiet disposition.      Not a recluse, but just likes peace and quiet.     Studious,  responsible and dutiful,
he did not do so very well at school, but is happy and content to be now employed by TFH School as the Assistant Pool Attendant for the New Swimming Pool.       I think he will do well there since he is very 'cool' in every sense - and man to have around in a crisis or scare.      He contributes very much to sense of 'security' needed at the pool side.      Very proud for him.       He works under the eye of the Swimming Coach, herself once an Olympic Athlete.

SO all four will be finding their own lodgings and leaving home.      BUT we know they will remain part of the Family, and that they will visit often.    It has been our privilege - all together - for us to have been able to watch them all grown up, and to be involved in loving and caring for them all.   It was a Wonderful evening.

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FOR THE LAST FEW DAYS the summer weather has giver way to COLD temperatures once more it has become cloudy again.      Our seventeen youngsters who were circumcised last week are recovering well, with a lot of extra attention and fortifying FOOD.

TOMORROW is the last day of the month, and then on SUNDAY December will begin.    The children will be busy with Christian Camps both in and without the compound, and others will be beginning to practise for the Christmas Concert and Carols.       Guests will begin to arrive - the first being Tammy from Australia on the 5th.      We are learning in this month and Season that happiness is not dependant on material prosperity but upon a contented spirit, and joyful fellowship with one another.   Certainly that old saying ' The Best Things in Life are FREE' remains true.     I learnt it as a kid growing up in north Yorkshire during and after the War.         CHRISTMAS will be celebrated cheaply but with great gladness of heart, and a considerable amount of laughter and plain happiness in the midst of our usual focus on the Coming of the King ..........Glory be to God.        

With Love from us all HERE, in 'chilly' Kenya not far from the Equator!!!

John and Esther

FROM PILLAR TO POST

FROM PILLAR TO POST!!   Where shall I go NEXT?      This is a  photo of a teenager waiting to be posted to a Foster Home.    He might well be the one mentioned in June 2011, who had written to the British Prime Minister, David Cameron pleading for the Children's Home he lived in not to be CLOSED.    In the GUARDIAN Newspaper of 4th June 2011 we read the headline  

 'ABUSED TEENAGER APPEALS TO CAMERON OVER THE CLOSURE OF CHILDREN'S HOME'

An abused teenager who was rejected by 15 foster families has written begging Mr. Cameron to intervene and stop the closure of Children's Homes.   He writes - 'I come from a background of physical and emotional neglect and have had 15 foster placements before settling in a Children's Home, and in my view there is a need for 'consistent' residential care.'    At the time of the Article Anne Marie Carrie, chief executive of Barnado's commented that closing residential Homes for children could leave many children being 'shifted from pillar to post' with no permanent home.   During 2010 in the UK more than 10% of children in foster care were moved three times or more as placements broke down. Figures then showed that 1200 children had between five and more placements during the year with 130 had more than TEN different placements in the same year.      'It's called 'placement break-down', but that's a euphemism for yet another person failing these children.   Their own parents have failed them, now the system is failing them'     A poor look out indeed.   The situation can only be worse in 2013.      And how has Mr. Cameron reacted?     He apparently ignored it.

In this same article Local Councils in the UK were evincing the opinion that 'children are better of with foster carers...'      This seemed to ignore the fact that at the time there was a nationwide shortage of foster carers, and that in many cases they did not provide a safe or secure home for those placed with them.  

TESTIMONY FAITH HOMES continues to be concerned at the growing trend worldwide amongst sociologists in government to recommend foster care over and against Residential Children's Homes.
This week we have heard from an International NGO that this has become official policy with UNICEF.      The same source has stated that Ethiopia is already complying with this directive, and that many Homes there have already closed.    HOWEVER,   although we have tried to find confirmation for this on the International Web, we have so far failed to do so.     Nothing official, although, we DO see instances in the U.S.A.  Africa, and Europe where this is in fact happening, and official preferment for Fostering and Adoption clearly in vogue.
OUR POSITION remains in opposition to this trend generally.       We do not deny that all children need there own home and loving parents.    We also do not deny that a Children's Home may not be able to replace a child's home or family, especially such 'homes' that cater for large numbers of children institutionally.    HOWEVER, we are not convinced that voluntary or, induced, fostering provides the answer.     We are seeing up to 30% of fostered children failing to remain in their placements.   These children continue to be in need and in situations worse then before.      We cannot see supervision or monitoring of such fostering being possible due to the falling number of those seeking social service as a career.

The big argument FOR Fostering and Adoption is fueled by the many highly publicised instances of child abuse found in institutionalised situations.    Abuse has always been with us, both in families and institutions including boarding schools.     There were laws to provide proper punishment and discipline for such offences.         We live in a world where such perversion is on the increase and indeed the world seems preoccupied with it to the point of distraction.   There is no doubt world society will be more and more confronted by it - perhaps until it is SO aware and conscious of it, that it will not longer CARE about it; it will just take such behaviour as a matter of course - seeing it usual human behaviour in the same way as homosexuality is now being encouraged and accepted.    After all, recognised standards of what is right and wrong are slowly diminishing - even vanishing.......We must remember the comment of Archbishop Carey recently, when he said that within a generation from now God may not be known at all - and, by imputation, His law probably ignored as well.   Be prepared brethren..!      

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THIS WEEK ON FRIDAY, I had the opportunity to be with the Deputy Governor of our County, Daniel Chemno.     He said the County would not support the new Bill in front of the National Parliament, which sought to control the income of NGOs from overseas.   

'The Kenyan Government plans to make large cuts in the foreign funding of non-governmental organisations.    On the 30th October, the Attorney General gazetted the Miscellaneous Amendment Bill of 2013.      This Bill will establish that -                     ,,,,,,,,A public Benefit Organisation shall not receive more than 15% of its total funding from external donors...(unless otherwise approved by the Minister)'

This Bill will also stop donors from funding NGOs directly, forcing them instead to channel funds through a new Public Benefits Organisations Federation..        One wonders what the Government will do with the balance of funds over and above 15% allocated to the NGO, that might be sent to this new 'Federation".
The idea apparently - on the surface - is to prevent NGOs from being dependant and perhaps controlled by external supporters and aid, and to become more 'self' supportive.       On the other hand the Government might be hoping to 'milk the goose that lays the golden egg' to mix a metaphor.

In Ethiopia some NGOs are already closing down due to similar legislation in that Country.
The Chairman of the National Association of Human Rights Activities in Kenya, Ken Wafula, says that the Bill must be withdrawn or there will be public demonstrations against it.   He says that the plan to limit external donors from funding NGOs to 15% is aimed at crippling NGOs since they do not receive funding locally.         MORE IMPORTANTLY it will increase poverty and diminish social services and assistance to the poor.

There is no doubt that pressure is increasing on NGOs.      
TESTIMONY FAITH HOMES could, in no, way find means to survive on 15% of its current income. It would be forced economically to close down -  EXCEPT, of course, we DO have plan 'B' which we have code-named 'FAITH'      We do not see giving in to pressure of any kind as an answer whilst God is with us!    No indeed.    We will remain a Stone of Stumbling to every opposition to the Grace of God.       If this Bill proceeds and is not squashed, and if further pressure is brought upon us to stop accepting children into our Homes, we WILL protest, wherever God might present an opportunity, and without either fear or favour.

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THIS WEEK has been quite busy with Meetings.    There was an Interview for new Teachers for the School on Monday.   Esther and I both sit on the Selection Panel.    On Tuesday we had a Team of medics and sociologists in for the day examining and chatting up all our children - an annual event to double check their mental and physical health -they play games, get involved with all kinds of other activities to gauge unobtrusively their growth and happiness.    On Wednesday Daryl and I inspected the Eldoret Social Hall which is to be used as a Rehab Centre for Street Children.   Thursday I addressed the Court Users Committee as chairman of the Task Force for Street Children.   And on Friday Daryl and I also attended the County Deputy Governor to discuss Street Children more generally.

All time consuming activities in between necessary office works, correspondence, receiving visitors, AND meeting with staff and children.     No day is without its activities - some planned and some unplanned - never a dull moment.     Additionally each day we juggle with the funds we have and the needs we have to cover.    Glory to God!

NEXT WEEK there will be two extra events.     On THURSDAY Esther and I, and Daryl and Carol have been invited, by our American Missionary friends, to share in their Annual Thanksgiving Dinner in remembrance of God's Goodness and Provision over the year.      (always reminds ME of our old Harvest Thanksgivings.)      There will probably be more than a hundred of us all sharing together and having fellowship over the lunch hour.  Prayer, Testimony and plenty to EAT.

THEN on FRIDAY Testimony House has arranged for a Going Away Party.     FIVE of the family from that Home are leaving to start an independent life, having completed their education and training.

This means they will no longer live at home but in their own lodgings in the surrounding locality.  

Three will be taking up posts as School Teachers (one in our own School) Jesse Renata,  Maureen Cherop, and Victor Makokha.     One, Betty Wanjiru, will be Assistant Bursar in our School Finance Office.    And finally , John Kanyingi who will be a gardener helping with our extensive grounds. 

A number of past members of the families of all four houses will join with us for prayer, encouragement, soda and cake.     Presentations of a Bible and Financial Gift to each of those leaving will be made.    Usually an emotional occasion, but also one of satisfaction and achievement in that each has made it through school, and is now ready to start an independent life.     A Break and a change into a new experience, but not too far away from home and those they have lived their lives with.     Out and away, but not beyond reach.     Might put in a few photos next Saturday.

We have reached the END of the month, and are now entering December and the Christmas Season.

The month to be revisited with HOPE as we receive yet again the knowledge of the One born to RANSOM us all from the Devil, and from the control of evil upon our lives.    A JOYFUL month.   Indeed a MERRY month.

God Bless you all with EXPECTATION.

John and Esther

NOTHING LIKE HONESTY

THIS WEEK UASIN GISHU COUNTY HAS BEEN IN THE NEWS!     Regretfully not admirably so!  On Wednesday of this week the Daily Nation lifted the lid our on our County with the Headline -

Uasin Gishu County Leads in Bribery

'If you live in Uasin Gishu, you are more likely to be asked for a bribe than anyone living elsewhere in Kenya!'

ON THURSDAY THE 'NATION' added a word from the County's chief officer -

YES, we lead in graft - says Governor!

'.....reacting by telephone, the Governor said   

residents of the County, particularly those in Eldoret Town,

easily gave out bribes.   Mr. Mandago said the Private Sector in the Region was leading in the vice.'
(nothing like honesty)

BUT this is not NEW!     It does not surprise us, since it is a 'vice' that seems to have been around a long time - certainly as long as I have lived in this Town, and that is going back 42 years!!      And I feel sure that as, a practice, it has been common throughout the Nation generally.     Neither can we limit it to Kenya, or Africa, but must confess Bribery to have been knocking around the entire world, almost since mankind fell from his intended high estate.

WHAT IS BRIBERY?    What motivates it?       A BRIBE is something offered, or given, to another in order to persuade or induce them to do what you want.       Those giving or accepting a bribe are serving their own interest in front of all others.    It is a demonstration of 'Selfishness' and self interest. We were not created or designed to serve ourselves, however,  but God and one another.     Thus the 1st and 2nd Great Commandments are summed up - 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength - AND your neighbour as yourself.  Mark 12v31.

With MONEY a man may persuade another to provide employment, secure a favour, or even commit a murder!!      These days one can even offer ones body for sex in order to procure good grades in School or even a Degree in University!     What cannot be obtained for love or money?     But can it be condoned or admired as right or just?    Can it finally bring a blessing into my life or the society around me.       We are told here that so many students are in university, not because of their academic merit, but because of  'paying a bribe'.         In the end we will have a whole crop of ''unqualified" people hiding behind their bought Certificates and Degrees, and a society of blind academics leading the blind. Not a very promising or hopeful prospect.

In Ecclesiastes 7v7 Solomon says 'A gift destroyeth the mind'.     The 'gift' un-makes the mind, brings it into indecision and thereby changes what before was established.     Bribery undermines previous firm decision and determination;  alters the expected and promised order of things.     It re-directs the course of justice.

I must say, personally, that prior to arriving in Kenya I had never come across 'bribery' in any practical or lively sense.     I had not been presented with any need to consider bribery as a means of obtaining what I desired, nor did any try to bribe me in assisting them to attain their own wants.   

In Kenya I have never been offered, or thought of offering, a bribe.      The pace of life I found to be slower than in England, but although frustrating at times I never felt a need to hurry it up.     And being a person of very small material means myself, none seemed attracted to squeeze or milk me of my supposed riches through demanding a bribe for any service given.

BUT that is not to say that Christians DO NOT bribe.     Probably those of other Religious persuasion also!

On remarking about it on occasion I have been always told that 'there ARE times when the wheels of commerce and social action need greasing - and that God expects us to use our opportunities to save time and expedite the progress of the Kingdom!

I find this hard to argue either from Scripture or from the pricks of my conscience.

Daniel's prayers carried by the Angel to God were hindered and inordinately delayed by one of Satans, gang, yet there is no suggestion that Gabriel did anything to 'hurry things up'.      Thus I have never been able to push my way into a queue in order to reach the counter quicker, shoving others out of the way.......

The mind of God is clear as it stands in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 16v19 -

'Thou shalt not wrest judgement;

thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift:

for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise

and perverts the words of righteousness..

For I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins:

they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor at the gate

for a pair of shoes

Amos 5v12

COME TO ELDORET,  and expect to come across bribery?     NO, Esther and I have been here 42 years as I mentioned before, and never have we been approached by or encouraged into it.     Indeed you do not need to come to ELDORET - Bribery can be found just where you live......if you look for it.

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This is a view of Eldoret on the main trunk road looking towards Uganda.   Most of the shopping centre is on the left hand side, but a good part of the town extends to the right also.

This is a view from one of the roads to the left of the first picture above, on a wet day.    We are having many of them right now.      The streets are usually more crowded than seen in this photo, and the traffic heavier and denser.  Inserting both photos  just to give those who have never been here a small glimpse into out Town of now more than one million people.     This is our town.     Very noisy, crowded and corrupt!!

YESTERDAY our High School feted its Graduating Class and Esther and I were invited to lunch with them all.   A very good occasion.     Now everyone has left and the Long Holiday has begun - and it is STILL raining!!     So far it has not seemed to dampen anyone's spirits though, and there is a very happy air of general gaiety and good spirits everywhere amongst us all.       Yesterday we also received a large Donation of foodstuffs from a Muslim School in Town; enough to take care of our grocery needs for almost a week!      And it was very well timed as we were waiting on the Lord to supply our need for the week ahead.       IS life hand to mouth?   YES, it often IS, since the Lord more and more seems to keep us living day to day.      He has always provided in one way or another, such as with this unexpected donation from right here in town, but He makes sure we do not forget where our real Hope is centred.        We Praise His Name.

Two old friends working with COVENANT PLAYERS were with us over last weekend until Tuesday morning.   Really had a great time with them.    They were last here with us in the late 80s early 90s.

JOE MEDLEY and DAVID GROVES.

Later this month we hope to have one of our old boys - David Koech who is presently residing in the States, but also busy building himself a house not far away from us.      And THEN we are expecting one of our Australian family from Tyndale School - Tammy - to be arriving early December for Christmas.     Wonderful to have So many drop in on us - why not try it?

Continue to uphold us with your prayers.    We need them every day.     God Bless and be with you through the coming week.     He will never let go of you!   Never, never, NEVER!

Lovingly in His Name

John land Esther

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SEEKING SOLACE FOR THE SOUL

I LOVE THIS PICTURE.    I guess I just love what it portrays!    Acceptance and care.     As humans we are all, at rock bottom, needing this.      And here is an 'Elder Brother' ready and waiting to be reached out to.    Thank you Jesus!

YET perhaps for the majority of those living with us on Earth this remains just a beautiful concept, and the reality either non existent or just too spirituall to be of any earthly use!  

We need to FEEL those loving arms around us, we need to HEAR the welcoming voice, and we need to KNOW the loving breast to lean our head upon.      For the majority it is a longed for dream.!

In the story told in the Bible - Luke 15v11-24 - often referred to as The Story of the Prodigal Son, we see a runaway son returning later to his home and to his father, ruined, penniless, and desperately destitute.   His father is longing and waiting for him to come, and when he sees him afar off, he runs to him and welcomes him without reservation.       BUT how often do we find this actually happening - either in or outside of the Christian Family?       The picture to the right is certainly a perfect rendering of that welcome.    It is what we imagine COULD happen to us in the hear and now of our extremity; it is not so misty and dreamlike as the one at the top .........   YET which is the MOST REAL in fact and in experience?

RECENTLY I read these words form one of our Old Boys, who is today a young of 32 now;   a sign-writer by profession, but fallen on hard times.

He writes -

"I feel too much; that's what's going on in me.    

Do you think one can feel too much?  Or we just feel in the wrong way?

My insides don't match up with my outsides!

Do anyone's insides and outsides match up?

I don't know.   I'm only me.

Maybe that's what a person's personally is'

the difference between the inside and outside.    But its worse for me.

I wonder if everyone thinks it's worse for them?

Probably - but it really is worse for me!

Knowing him well, as I do, I found these words very poignant and sad.    

He has not found the everlasting arms of Christ to surround and comfort him in his human heartache and pain.       He runs home often - trusting in the arms of those who who were family to him here in Testimony.   But does he find it?      Is his welcome all embracing, so that all his need both emotional and material is met? NO!      Of course we do what we can to comfort, advise and encourage, but we cannot give him the needed security of home - the home he left - nor that of ongoing safety and material well-being.       WE do not have it.       SO - (and we have a number of children now grown up, who are jobless now, and wresting with worldly problems common to life) - we often find ourselves unable to embrace to the full!       We DO embrace, hug, pour out words of gladness to SEE the struggling son or daughter - but we are unable to ' put a ring on his finger, provide new clothes, or restore to the family prosperity he had once enjoyed when a child.       The leave then disappointed and perhaps even disillusioned about US, and we watch them go, helplessly and often our heart broken to see their plight.      WE are helpless to help ......or is that our help is not enough.        
GOD OPENS HIS ARMS ABUNDANTLY.        He offers, and happily provides the COMFORT and the RELIEF of an affectionate heart that is ever waiting to be called upon for welcome and embrace.     Thereafter comes the materially re-enforced evidence of the sincerity of that welcome - BUT we humans in our human situation may not always be able to extend the welcome beyond the physical embrace and loving words - OUR cupboard might be bare, our wardrobe empty, and our available cash not there!    We may not have the FUTURE needed in our hands to give - and thus we try to open up the eyes and heart of expectation in this desperate life to CHRIST once more.         If we fail in this, there is nothing left but, after a brief time, to turn our lost child to the door, and back to the situation he is running from as an adult, adrift and alone without the Everlasting Arms of Jesus.........We are left to lift the life to God in Christ, and to believe for the best.     I personally have had no human recourse but to do just this to TWO of our former children now grown to manhood and out there in the world, ALONE.

We should - as imitators of Christ - always be THERE for the lost one, family or stranger;   always willing to assist even with the material necessity that we might have first call upon.      You know - willing to give MY bread (my own meal) to the hungry; My own home to the homeless; My own clothes to the naked..
Isaiah 58v6-12.         This IS a BIG deal.       This is CHRIST  living in me in the fullest way - it will mean ME living for YOU in Christ's Name, and trusting HIM for the increase.       It sounds RIGHT, and I believe it IS perfectly right, but the DOING of it needs FAITH beyond what any of us normally feel that we have.
We REASON for our OWN security, safety - considering that we do not KNOW, always for sure,  where OUR next need is coming from.     God may forget, overlook, or be asleep.      WELL it is clearly that if we have the help needed by the one asking and we refrain from letting him/her have it, we do not well.    It is more than clear that if we know to do what is GOOD in God's sight and we refrain from doing it - it IS sin!
Likewise we know that whatever we do without FAITH in God to secure us IS also SIN.   Proverbs 3v27 / Galatians 6v10 / Romans 14v23 / James 4v17.   So where do we stand?      I believe that we are only ALIVE on any one day in order to IMPROVE His Life in us.  We are alive by His GRACE - his undeserved kindness - that we might  GROW in grace toward others, so that we might ever, increasingly, be ready to Love them, Forgive them, show Mercy toward them, and to extend whatever help they may require of us that might be actually available to us.      At 73+ I feel more and more propelled towards this outlook and goal.  I feel the need to more and more take care that I do not fail of the Grace of God.... Hebrews 12v15     Thanks for one more day Lord to apply myself towards it.

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THE WEATHER here in 'sunny' Kenya is OVERCAST and DRAB.    No sun here.    RAIN in plenty still, and cool temperatures.      Looks as if it might continue a while - indeed all of this current year has been such as to dissuade any in believing we live in the tropics.       Really reminds me of Manchester right now - though that's OK by me as it keeps me sharp and feeling good.       Only the tourist gets disappointed.

The EXAMINATIONS have continued and although we went ahead and reported the problems we had discovered to the Authorities there has been no actual disturbance.       Those students concerned were warned and their phones taken away for further examination.    They were all allowed to continue on to completion.       We think that nothing more will happen until the actual 'Marking of Papers' is also completed sometime in December.        NOW the internal End Term Exams are taking place and soon ALL will be ended and the School finally closed for Christmas.       

A LONG holiday is before us, and we are all getting ready to make sure all the children will be occupied and given enough work and play to occupy them happily.      We will need your prayers.      Christmas here is without the glamour or glitter of Christmas in the West.    Reading of all the Christmas Readiness being seen in London we feel very much BEHIND in being ready in any way.      Eldoret streets never change; no special Christmas lighting in streets or shops generally speaking.    One or two small exceptions.   All will look the same throughout.      We ourselves usually start putting up some decorations on or around the 12th December         No presents and few innovations in the diet apart from Road Chicken on Christmas Day.

NEXT YEAR we shall have TWELVE new students for the Homes entering Secondary School for the first time, and we have to look to provide School uniform for all of them additionally to our other usual expenses.

God is over all, and we look to Him.       OH!    Esther has just discovered two jars of mincemeat for Mince Pies - must have been in a cupboard for more than two years!!  But they have not yet expired so we MIGHT find a few pies being made this Christmas as an added surprise.   

Take care everyone.     Remember the BIRTH of Jesus and keep Him in mind and heart through this period in our calender.       What can we all give HIM this year I wonder.      I must keep alert and listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit........We love YOU all.     God BLESS and surround you with His Love.

John and Esther

AND DARKNESS SHALL COVER THE EARTH!

THIS WEEK KENYA M.P.s have tabled and passed a Bill seriously curbing the FREEDOM of the Press.       Is this a bad thing?    I mean some of us may think the Press can have TOO much freedom. Freedom to harass, interfere with , and pursue the right to the privacy of all.     Freedom to print and photograph almost ANYTHING no matter how violent, gruesome, immoral and even
unclean.  Maybe not everything presented by the Press is humanly healthy.    The Press definitely is a tool to sway public opinion for or against not only the Government, but against a host of other matters that affect the way we live our lives, and the way we enjoy ourselves.      AND let us not forget that the PRESS is not always OWNED by the best of men and women.     Some Media is definitely in the hands of men and women with an 'axe to grind' and a point of view to put forward.     They are concerned for themselves, anxious to change your mind to that of their own.       There could be a good case for CENSORSHIP in many ways.
BUT the world as we know it advocates for Democracy when it comes to government.      NOT a Dictatorship, lest the Dictator enslaves his/her citizens to ensure the PEOPLE have no will of their own.
A Democracy, we are told is a State 'run FOR the people by the People.     A State where everyone can have their opinion to be openly known, and where freedom of speech is ensured so that being in possession of all the facts the populace is enabled to speak out for or against.       The world of Magazines and the Press in general exist to enable this to happen.        It assures that all of us are 'informed,' and thus not being blinded or deceived in any way by Leaders who prefer to keep their own council and to do their own thing without being themselves 'censored' by the Media - OR US!  As long as the Media is FREE to comment, expose, reveal and even photograph what is going on - honestly and without bias - WE are able to comment, and express OUR opinion fearlessly.         Of course it IS of consequence that we can have confidence in the Media actually presenting the TRUTH, truthfully.
The REACTION of the public in Kenya is to say NO to this Bill, and the President is being loudly asked not to Assent to the Bill and to refuse to sign it.        I would tend to AGREE.     BUT this is only provided that the Media ARE watched, and that they are not allowed to foster their own private 'rebellion' in order to disrupt the state - (or, in case they should by way of their pictures, articles and reports, degrade human life and behaviour by seeming to concentrate on matters that might in fact encourage crime, immorality and a general cheapening of human life and values).        Nevertheless a PRESS that is too tightly censored will be Press that is 'muzzled', GAGGED, and ultimately SUPPRESSED by a small minority, who are intent on keeping everyone else in the dark about what THEY are actually doing - no doubt for private and personal reasons, including an avid desire for private power and money.     This cannot but induce a situation that will be highly dangerous to peace and prosperity.       It can, if finally implemented here, only further affect the economy and security.       A step backwards - some are saying a step back fifty years in to what then was very close to a police state.     Back to the 'Dark Ages' another has said.      A time of national political ignorance and educational restraint.           PRAY ON FOR KENYA

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

(not our own students)

THIS WEEK THE KENYA CERTIFICATE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION EXAMINATIONS HAVE BEEN GOING ON.        In the midst of them the worst outbreak of cheating nationwide has in fact broken out, causing alarm and embarrassment everywhere.   The NATION headline on Friday was -

Cheating in KCSE exam

goes Hi-tech

Part of the Report went on to say

'...The CID have recovered four mobile phones with questions similar to the ones 

in the genuine exam.   So far 26 mobile phones have been intercepted from candidates

who are sitting this national exam....'

On THURSDAY one of our Boarding Masters had come across a mobile phone in strange circumstances that belonged to one of the High School Borders.    On examination it was found to contain even more strange SMS information.       On further investigation it was found to contain 'Word for Word' copies of QUESTIONS to be asked in Examinations to be taken.      It was further found that this information has been shared with a number of other students in our High School, and perhaps even further afield.    Our technical staff were able to extract ALL the details of ALL the incoming and outgoing calls recorded on this mobile phone,       I myself, the Head of High School and the Principal of the School were all called urgently to view the evidence.       The printed evidence from the phone revealed some FIVE names of students in our School - THREE of them from the Homes!      We were devastated.     A girl from Tyndale, a boy from Jacaranda, and two more mores from Testimony House.       It was shocking news, and of course the Exam was continuing and has continued since into the next two weeks!!

The NATION article quoted above also went on to say -

'.....19 people had so far been arrested,

among them two headteachers and invigilators,

for abetting the malpractice.

The phones had sets of questions similar to the ones in the exam papers students were tackling.

Students identified were taken and interviewed, and we were able to confirm what had been happening. Even money had been changing hands between students and those sending the 'Questions' in on the phones. With OUR students all the incoming copies of 'Questions' were EXACT print outs of the ACTUAL questions as they appeared on the Paper!!!       SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO?      We had found ourselves for the first time in the midst of a national scandal!           It would certainly not do our 'NAME' any good ......Might be wise to say nothing and hope it would all remain undiscovered.      This was the opinion of some.    Others felt that since WE knew, we had no option but to REPORT the whole matter and leave the outcome - and our 'name' to GOD.      None of us liked the words 'abetting the malpractice' and we did not feel inclined to let them be directed at ourselves.       We turned to the Word of God.

'When you saw a thief, you consented with him ...'   Psalm 50v18   You did not reveal the thief you let him go undiscovered = and by doing so you AGREED with what he did - you aided and abetted him in his actions.   The WORD 'abet' here means to agree with, to support, to AID.   We could not avoid its aptness in describing any action on our part which might cover up, and suppress knowledge of what we all agreed was 'malpractice'.      We MUST, as we witness to His Life in us, live in the LIGHT - not in darkness with Satan.
'Therefore, to him that knows how to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin' - James 4v17
SO THIS MORNING the offending mobile phone, and all the printed and electronically gathered evidence we had, together with the revealed names of those students we had discovered involved in the whole matter were handed over to the County Education Department for their action.

Not easy to let the Word of God be applied in a situation such as this.    Not easy to do it God's Way and not ours, ceasing to regard our human feelings and emotion in favour of NOT turning a blind eye to unrighteousness.

We think the Examination will continue on for the remaining students taking part.    The final action and disciplinary action will not occur until Marking is completed.      If the students are finally considered guilty they will have their paper cancelled, be banned from sitting the exam again for TWO years, and might also face a year or two in Borstal - Correction for 16s and over.
How will our action affect the School?     Many parents will have preferred we said nothing and keep our reputation untarnished.      Some may even consider removing their children, believing that the 'Homes' children may continue to tarnish their own little angels.       BUT we believe God will honour our action and that He will bind up our wounds and even cover up the sin of those who may yet call upon Him.     After all it is Him, finally, who is the Judge.
BUT CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR US ALL.      It is getting 'dark' and it is hard to see clearly what IS right or wrong any more.     It must, WILL, grow darker, and knowledge will be withheld more and more.
The Word of God has been bound and its Proclaimers more and more GAGGED from declaring the fullness of the Gospel - indeed of the whole TRUTH of God.       The people hear little, less and less often,and are become ignorant and slow to ACT!  
                                                              BURN, Fire of God.........

'Burn fire of God! my ransomed soul possessing;

Pure fire Thou art, and I would dwell in Thee.

Light of my life, true source of ev'ry blessing.

Grant all my days one holy flame to be!'

L.F.W. Woodford

We believe more and more of us who identify with the Life and Way of Christ will find themselves called to STAND, and having done all - to just go on STANDING for all that HE stands for.    We will need to be very courageous - O God give us the strength of purpose needed to set our faces like flints to go to Jerusalem!!

Our continuing love to you all

John and Esther