Saturday 26 November 2016

WHERE DID ALL THE SNOW GO ?


I JUST CANNOT RESIST a good photo of Elephants.    These are from Tanzania just in front of Mt. Kilimanjaro.    Wonderful beasts, and still being destroyed by poachers.    These are in all probability DEAD and those wonderful TUSKS either turned into some Chinese Aphrodisiac or just Burned by the Government after being taken from the poachers.     It all seems so very sad and totally without any reason.    SO MANY of our animal species are becoming, or already are, EXTINCT!! We,( Mankind), are supposed to be so advanced in our intelligence, yet it this generation most of all that is ploughing blindly ahead ignorantly - and even knowledgeably - destroying our environment. This is madness, and not the kind of wisdom that comes from God.     It comes from the selfish heart of Man himself.
THIS WEEK, has been rather an ordinary week - a lot of RAINY and sunless days.    As if to compliment this sudden greyness, with the children forced indoors, and staff a little over stressed, troubles tend to also occur.     BUT, life continues and the Lord walking with us helps to disperse the clouds of discontent and and dullness..      For me, with a very active two + year old, demanding attention, the week has been fairly full, and I have taken on a new calling as a Day Care Companion to Baby Abigail Green.     She is a doll, but she sure puts me to the test of physical endurance.   Can I endure to the end....?    Only four more weeks.......!***
THE FORM 1V NATIONAL EXAMS have now finished, except for a few special Subjects which will come late next week.      Then we shall have their Farewell Luncheon - and yet another Parting Word from yours truly, the Guest of Honour..     This time I have a mixed 10 minute bag.   I shall start with a word from Marcus Aurelius  -
'When you arise in the morning
think what a precious privilege it is to 
TO BE ALIVE,
TO BREATHE, TO THINK, TO ENJOY, TO LOVE!

And to close to short quotes from Sir Winston Churchill -  Both are well known.  The first says -

'Success consists of going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.
If you are going through hell KEEP GOING!
You have enemies?  Good!
That means you are standing up for something, sometimes in your life.'

The second is an excerpt from a Speech given by Churchill in October 1941, about eighteen months into the 2nd World War - a Speech also given to College Students -

'NEVER GIVE IN!  Never give in.
Never, never, never, never, NEVER!
.In nothing great or small, large or petty, NEVER GIVE IN!
EXCEPT in conviction of honor and good sense.'
Sir Winston Churchill  1874-1965


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IT IS ALMOST A YEAR since the Testimony House Family moved out to make way for those BOYS who were over 18 and spread in each of
the then FOUR families.     It was not to our liking that this had to happen, and this year we had to also move all the over 18 GIRLS out of their family homes to the NEW Jean Potts Hostel for Girls.   This, as you remember, in order to comply with Government policies regarding how Children's Homes have to be run.     Testimony House ceased to be a Children's Home in December 2015 and became a Hostel for Boys only,      All the children, under 18, who had lived in Testimony House as a Family of all ages and sexes suddenly found themselves shared out in different families with new parents and new siblings.    It was a huge change and many found it very harrowing.     But we Thank God, who helped both them and the parents to cope with the situation, and to within a year, bring peace and harmony.      The  Government had wanted us to billet all our over eighteens in hostels or rented accommodation OUTSIDE of our own accommodation entirely, in the town; an arrangement so destructive of all we had tried to build up that we could not agree.     We again Thank God that when we laid our hearts and concerns in front of the Kenya Children's Office they quickly saw the good sense of keeping our young adults with us still, on our own property, but in separate accommodation.      It was for them a compromise, and for us a very definite answer.      So far it has worked well, and 'families' have not been completely torn apart.
We are still all together, able to fellowship, and worship together.

DARYL was in Nairobi again this week, on Thursday.     We have had to add two more Trustees this year, and it takes usually a long time - this Application began in 2005!!!     Endless papers had to be signed, and this week, the Lands Office demanded Daryl went himself personally to Nairobi to sign one more document.    We now hope to see Registration completed sometime in January 2017.  Phew.
BUT it is good since the Trustees are responsible to hold all the Titles to the Land we occupy and without their consent no land can be sold, or used for any alternative purpose other than for children's services including education.    There are FIVE Trustees.     Daryl is one, Esther and I,  plus Anthony Ndungu, Principal of the School, and Rev Francis Wainaina, who is currently resident in the UK.                      
It has rained heavily again this afternoon, so we may not run out of water just yet.   God hears all our prayer.     We Think of you all so often.    Thank you for just being there with us on the road.    A dear brother in Christ and God's kingdom passed away this week.    Frank Ford and I were students together in I.B.T.I for our Bible training.   We were good pals,    He married another student called Carol, and they have been ministering in Spain for as long as I have been here.    May the Lord comfort the family, and sustain the fruit of Frank and Carol's  ministry.
AGAIN our love to you always in His Mighty and All :Prevailing Name

John, Esther and Daryl Green

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