Well, we both wish her every blessing together with Paul, her husband. Such a thrilling thing - to start a NEW life together, with the one of God's choice'. And to have God with you, between you, and walking with you is one tremendous piece of confident Assurance. We all need such a Friend by our side, each of us, for there is another who is an 'Enemy', seeking all the time to come between to divide, and to destroy our trust and love. But if God, in Jesus Name, is binding our marriage together, then it will not easily be broken. - Ecclesiastes 4v12
Let Jesus hold on to your hearts, and to your lives, and He will never let you go, and will renew your love for one another even in times of stress and disappointment.
ON MONDAY Esther, arrived home with our son Steven who has been with us until today when he will be flying home to Manchester again. It has been a very special Blessing to us both to have him with us. We have needed his fellowship and companionship. It has been a good week, even though the Rains seem to have decided to arrive together with the usual cloud cover, and cooler temperatures. Steve will fly from here this afternoon to Nairobi, and then on from there to U.K. tonight. We shall miss him the more, since we see him so little, and also find his 'being here' has caused us to miss Anji and our grandchildren the more. Last night Steven took us all ( me and Esther, James Manu, Hellen and Abigail, Daryl and Carol and their three kids, Jesse, Becky, and Jeremy, out to supper. It was quite an occasion, and very good to be all together for once. When shall we meet again? No way of knowing. But God has it all worked out.
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ON WEDNESDAY one of our Cleaners, Harbert Taabu, who has been with us for many decades collapsed on duty. He was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with an intestinal hernia. It seems he had suffered with this for more than two years without sharing with anyone. The Hospital declared it was an Emergency case with immediate need to operate. However, they then declared that they did not have what was needed to repair the hernia, and that WE would have to look for the materials elsewhere and buy them before an operation could be attempted! The materials have been found, and the op is now scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday). Harbert is 44 and has been with since June 1990. He is married with family. Please remember him in your prayers.
DURING THE WEEK, we also saw one of Testimony House' iconic landmarks removed. The largest of five Jerusalem pines was finally cut down. It must have stood for at least 80 years on the left of the driveway leading up to the Testimony House. Eighteen months ago it caught a disease that destroyed it's foliage till nothing was left. We left it standing hoping to see a recovery, but no! It slowly dried out, and this week it was finally cut down. We miss it. In the photo on the left it can be seen still standing in its grey deadness, ( see bottom centre, going up.), and on the right the resultant GAP and residue of its trunk and branches on the ground. It is sad; sad to see and have to make way for change.
BUT change is part of the ebb and flow of life. Change is inevitable, and whilst we may not always rejoice at it, it has to be, and in coming to be it must also, to some extent, take us on, changing us too.
Second, the general feeling was that Children's Homes were outdated and should give way to simple and institutional 'Holding Centres' where children would be first investigated and their histories proved before either being repatriated to their discovered family roots, or passed on to some other unit to be educated, trained, or rehabilitated as the case may need. Homes like ours, set up to provide an alternative for children, without ANY home or family seem to be considered almost non existent. Children's Homes of our kind of vision will be purely temporary holding centres from which children will be fostered or adopted. This means short stay tactics.
Third all those children in existing and future CCI's/Holding Centres, who have attained the age of 18 and over must be moved out and on to some other facility. Any CCI such as our own, who continue to harbour this age group will not be Re-Registered, and might even be closed down. the whole tenure of social thought as it applies to children and young people is - don't draw attention to them, get them all fostered, adopted, or working.
This is not good news for us. We are therefore seeking the LORD to help us re-define the Vision He gave us 44 years ago. Please do bare this all in prayer. There is no immediate danger to us, but we now realise that we must be prepared, in the LORD, for changes to come, not resenting them, but ready to enter into them in the Mind and Vision of the Living God.
Must close now for this week. Accept of our love as always. We do keep you all in mind in Jesus Name.
John, Esther, and Daryl Green
DURING THE WEEK, we also saw one of Testimony House' iconic landmarks removed. The largest of five Jerusalem pines was finally cut down. It must have stood for at least 80 years on the left of the driveway leading up to the Testimony House. Eighteen months ago it caught a disease that destroyed it's foliage till nothing was left. We left it standing hoping to see a recovery, but no! It slowly dried out, and this week it was finally cut down. We miss it. In the photo on the left it can be seen still standing in its grey deadness, ( see bottom centre, going up.), and on the right the resultant GAP and residue of its trunk and branches on the ground. It is sad; sad to see and have to make way for change.
BUT change is part of the ebb and flow of life. Change is inevitable, and whilst we may not always rejoice at it, it has to be, and in coming to be it must also, to some extent, take us on, changing us too.
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DARYL has been in Nairobi most of this week; he arrived back yesterday in fact. He has been attending a week's Meetings conjoined by the African Charitable Children's Institutions in Kenya, and the Kenya Department of Children's Services. In the short time he has had to brief me, the general governmental vision for the future is not very encouraging for us. The ideas themselves are not new.
First the plan to channel ALL incoming charitable donations to a central clearing house in Nairobi,where, on receipt they will be sorted out according to where the donation is meant to be placed. However, only 15% of the total income for any one NGO or Charity, will be sent on to the individuall Charity - the rest will be distributed to poorer NGOs, that are still unprovided for. This will leave the rest of us who are receiving only 15% of their expected income forced to find the rest from local Kenyan based effort, or close down. Some have done so already, in advance, and have re-sited their ministry in other countries.Second, the general feeling was that Children's Homes were outdated and should give way to simple and institutional 'Holding Centres' where children would be first investigated and their histories proved before either being repatriated to their discovered family roots, or passed on to some other unit to be educated, trained, or rehabilitated as the case may need. Homes like ours, set up to provide an alternative for children, without ANY home or family seem to be considered almost non existent. Children's Homes of our kind of vision will be purely temporary holding centres from which children will be fostered or adopted. This means short stay tactics.
Third all those children in existing and future CCI's/Holding Centres, who have attained the age of 18 and over must be moved out and on to some other facility. Any CCI such as our own, who continue to harbour this age group will not be Re-Registered, and might even be closed down. the whole tenure of social thought as it applies to children and young people is - don't draw attention to them, get them all fostered, adopted, or working.
This is not good news for us. We are therefore seeking the LORD to help us re-define the Vision He gave us 44 years ago. Please do bare this all in prayer. There is no immediate danger to us, but we now realise that we must be prepared, in the LORD, for changes to come, not resenting them, but ready to enter into them in the Mind and Vision of the Living God.
Must close now for this week. Accept of our love as always. We do keep you all in mind in Jesus Name.
John, Esther, and Daryl Green
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