LET US ALL LOVE ONE ANOTHER IN GOD'S SPIRIT

THIS PHOTO APPEARED TODAY, and it is now almost FIVE years since it was taken in St Matthew's Church, Rastick, in England.    Yes, it was 2011, and it was the last time we were both in England.    But it was not the first time for us to be there in Rastrick.     Our connection goes back through years to 1968, in fact, and the fellowship and interest in me first, then the ministry, and my wife and family, has continued on with prayer and support.      All very special brothers and sisters in Christ, and we have been very Blessed in knowing them, and prospering from their prayers and love in Jesus.     WE have also remembered THEM in prayer and thanksgiving, and especially this year when their area has been battered by storms and excessive bad weather, causing flooding, and chaos to many.     But our deep appreciate and affection to all the 'family' that make up this Body of Christ, and also to all those others 'family members' in Jesus who pray for us and who have walked with us in this ministry - all of us in the midst of an evil and godless world.
This photo turned up unexpectedly, yet also appropriately since our long time friends Ian and Diana from Huddersfield are with us today for a few days - they have also managed to visit our friends in Rastrick and even to show slides of the work..     It has been a special and remarkable happiness for us to have so many from Yorkshire in England coming to know us and to take an interest in Kenyan children.     I spent the first five years of my life in Yorkshire, near to Harrogate, and I believe those years have remained with me.       Precious years they were, since they instilled in me a great love of open space and beautiful countryside.     We have spent many special times there with Ian and Diana over the years, in their home, and also in visiting Francis and Elain Wainaina in York, Sheffield and finally in Starbeck, Harrogate.       It has been quite amazing and satisfying to be able,  once again return to childhood haunts, including the Church I was Christened in in 1942, and the Primary School I attended for my first four school years - I was even able to sit in the same chair, in the School Hall, that I had occupied then with my 'mark' still engraved upon it!

AND HERE I AM, with Esther, further north in Keith, Scotland, also in 2011 on my sister Pat's Birthday. on 27th April.    My first time in Bonny Scotland, and a time of enchantment as I took in the land of my dreams, AND the wonderful event of finding myself with a sister I had not known about all my life until about few months previously.     Pat is a year my senior.    She was able to visit us in 2012 for a month, but since then we have been unable to meet or even communicate.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY my dearest and ONLY sister.      You will be in our thoughts especially when the DAY arrives.   You are always in my prayers, and affections, and I am trusting and believing that the God I have lived for and believed in through my life, will also communicate His Love to you.

AND ANOTHER PHOTO of my dear wife on one of her Birthdays, blowing out her candles - I cannot quite remember which Birthday this was, though it was probably recorded and published in one of our past Blogs!!
Have you noticed ?   Esther was wearing the SAME dress in each photo!    NO it isn't the only one she has - just a favourite of hers - still going strong even today.   A thrifty woman well fit for a Scotsman!

OUR LIFE WITH THE CHILDREN continues to occupy both of us as, day by day. life ebbs and flows about us here in Testimony Faith Homes.
We now provide home and family to 140 boys and girls - more than 40 over 18, and almost at the END of their stay with us.   They have now almost completed their education, at last, and are preparing to leave and enter the world around them, grasping the nettle of their their own responsibilities and Independence.

In the Photo below these four happy boys are far from that day, and time of life.

Clinton  Isaac, and Calvin from Drakely Cottage on the far right, with Joel from Jacaranda in the middle.

They still enjoy the comparative freedom and light heartedness of just being cared for,,   Still in Primary School they love to play as well as study, and seem to have no anxieties - at least for the time being.
We are GLAD for them, and happy their Father in Heaven has given them the Love they need to BE
free and secure enough to enjoy their childhood.

We are finally grateful and glad to say that the small legacy promised to us has arrived.     We have been able, for the first time in more than 10 years, been able to see a long standing debt wiped away by the love and grace God.    We had almost, at times, despaired of seeing this day, but even though pressed to share the burden width those who know us, we felt pressed MORE to be quiet and wait upon the Lord.   He is Faithful
We now look into the matter of seeing if we can use what may be left in providing a Hostel for our over 18 year old GIRLS.     We have had this in prayer as well, and we had thought that this donation might at least in part help us to convert an existing building into a small Hostel as we had shared before.      We first have to finish costing and discovering how this might be done - probably by the end of May we will have made a decision. Pray on for us.

God Bless you all.    And REJOICE with us that even if we are POOR, our Father in Heaven does not forget us, and if we are patient WILL deliver us from ALL our anxieties.

John, Esther and Daryl