STAYING DOWN TO EARTH..BUT CLOSE TO GOD.

AUGUST 1969 I was living in THIS small cottage 20'x40' made of mud and wattle with a tin roof. when the first two boys (Wilson and his 8 year old brother Zacaria) came to live with me.   When we moved, to a larger house of brick, six months later we had 25 boys in the family,
We still had about the same number in January 1973 when we moved to Eldoret, into yet another, larger still, house, also made of mud and wattle. From mud to mud we have gone.   I shall find myself singing ' MUD GLORIOUS MUD...' in a minute!!   This time the exterior had been given a light plaster so that the walls looked smoother and more substantial,    They were two feet thick walls,    They had stood quietly and strongly since they were put up circa 1910.     Esther and I had moved into this house early January, with 28 boys, mostly between 11 and 15 years old.   We had been in England together for nine months visiting family and friends of mine.    Our first born, Steven Iguru was born there in Truro Hospital in Cornwall, south west England.     Our second son Michael Waweru, and daughter Elisabeth Mugure were born into this pillared palace of mud.    It was to be our extended family home for 28 years, as we brought up our own three children plus 115 more that became part of that first family over the years.      To day Testimony House, as it came to be known, has new Houseparents and a family of 40 odd still living as a family together.
The house stood alone in five acres of land, on a continuing slope of hillside.  On three sides open countryside was untouched, and full of wild life, snakes in abundance, monkeys, gazelle, and wild cats,  but fortunately no lions or leopards.    It had stood empty as a house for THREE years, cared for by an elderly Watchman, who had brought his chickens and goats inside with him at night to keep them safe.   The main sitting room was 900 square feet with an enormous fireplace, and timber floor.
For some reason the Watchman did not think to light a fire in the fireplace, but instead had a charcoal jiko burning in the middle of the room resting directly upon the timber floor - God must surely have been watching over THAT!  
WE arrived from England with less than a hundred pounds in hand to face turning a very dirty and totally unfurnished, and derelict eight bed roomed house, without electricity, water, or sewerage into a habitable home for 30!!!    We had bought 14 steel bunk beds, and 28 cow hide chairs with us for Eldoret where all this had begun.   Nothing else except our Faith in our Father In Heaven to provide.   And He did, and has continued to do so.  WE have never advertised any NEED, but only shared them with God in prayer;  We have never appealed for funds, food or anything else.   Yet 'out of the blue' funds would come our way - oh, not in huge amounts, small on the most part.     Food would be brought at times to the door, as the day the Sikh Community arrived at mid-day with enough cooked and other foodstuff to last us a whole day, and at a time when we actually had NO food in the House, and NO funds to purchase any.    Every day was a new experience, and each experience taught us what it meant to actually WAIT ON GOD for our life to be secured.      And at times we DID WAIT for an uncomfortable time before our prayers were answered.     We discovered we were not just trying to serve HIM by letting Him demonstrate His love and care for others through our labours.      He was also helping us to learn to be what He had made us for; to trust Him and to be faithful to HIM  no matter what the circumstances of our life might be in real time.........   NOT an easy road at times, but in the end fulfilling and satisfying, though of course there were days and moments when humanly we got a little impatient and a little anxious concerning  whether or not God has actually HEARD our cry.!    Hmmmm!    Well we have to say that He always had heard, and He always did Answer us, but He may not be taken for granted, and is determined, I believe, that we should not do so.       After all He did not create us to use Him for our selves, selfishly, but rather to SERVE and OBEY His demands that we might become like Him, and able to achieve His Purpose.

THE YEARS HAVE ROLLED BY;   in only four more years, we shall have reached our 50th year since we commenced this Work.      A Work not merely of rescuing and caring for abandoned and orphaned children, but of revealing the Reality and Faithful Reliability of God who can interact with any one of us in our daily lives.      We have FOUR, not one Home now.     We care for 140 - 150 children instead of only 28 at any time.     We have a School too; a School providing free places for ALL our children in the Homes, and also some 20 others in the locality.    Additionally more than 600 other children from the neighbourhood attend the School on a Fee paying basis.    Thousands of children have come and gone as students in the School since we began in 1981.      The Word of God has gone with them transforming many of their lives, and the lives of own homes and families as well.    A wonderful and blessed tool of evangelism.          In regard to the Homes not so many have come and gone.    We take children generally in between 0 and 10 years, and they stay between 20 and 25 years, leaving only when they are able to find employment and stand on their own feet.   It makes for a SLOW 'turnover'.      Since we began, including the 140 still in residence with us, we have seen only 400 come and go.     But we feel it has been for the best to build small family homes rather than huge institutional boarding hostels.      True we may have been able to reach more, but this way we have help to give each one a sense of 'Family' and Homeliness.        Again not easy for the 'Pareents' to be close to all of the 30 - 40 in the Family, but provided for loving and personal contact and interest.     We feel it has worked very well, and this is evidence by the numbers that continue to come back to visit and remain in touch.        Life in the Homes is not a rich life.    We do not have a lot of anything, but we do enjoy what we have, and we believe that the Children are VERY Happy.

Four of of our seniors about to launch out into the deep.   They finished School and now have to look for digs, and be independent.    They all began in a small way and grew up.   We are grateful to the Lord for helping them and us stay the course.      SOME leave having never really identified with Testimony as home or family; they just want to get out and do their 'thing' their way.    We can be relieved to see them go at times, but our heart is heavy, for we know they will encounter hardships and disappointment.
These four SMILERS are still very much in touch with us all, and are happy to be out on their own and established, but they still MISS home here, and stay close and in contact with family left behind in the Homes, and with 'parents' there grew to be happy with and glad for.      Family Life - like any other family really - just BIGGER, and we want you to know you are part of that family for ever.

GOD bless you.   Yes you are right I did not have much to say this week that was new, but I always enjoy looking back and remembering the Blessings of our growth here together.    It has been a very real Adventure.       Daryl is finding that it CONTINUES as well.     A great LEARNING opportunity.   It is the end of the month, and September is beginning.     God be with you day by day, and keep you READY for whenever He might appear.

Loving from us all - John, Esther, and Daryl.