TIME TO JOIN HEARTS AND HANDS TOGETHER AGAIN.

HERE IS THE 2019 TEAM of Help and Friendship from Tyndale Christian School in Adelaide, South Australia!    38 of them, and they are already IN Kenya, arriving here in Testimony on the 2nd July   WONDERFUL!    Everyone is excited to see them, and we hope they also will be anxious to see US as well.       They will, as usual, be spending most of their 14 days labouring, getting tired, and at times also perhaps dirty, applying themselves to physical projects among us.   They will be working with both us in Testimony Faith Homes, AND with Joshua and Miriam Mbithi at Neema Children's Home.
This time, with us, there will be work laying linoleum, painting, digging,  relaying paths and patios, and putting down a few recreational facilities.    Quite demanding, but they always give of their best, each of them, and leave good proof of their personal commitment and integrity.    A real Work Force, but also, at the same time,  a real Refreshment and Inspiration to the children, and to us all.    Each year this has been the case, and the relationship built up is quite amazing; the results in human and physical achievement incalculatable.

Some of the work to be done is upon a main path way that links Testimony House with The Office and also with Jacaranda compound across the road.   It also passes in front of Green Cottage. in this photo Green Cottage, our little home, is on the right, and we are looking up towards the Office and the Main Drive way out.   The patio and path were both put down 21 years ago, and are crumbling.   One or two, including me and a few other elderly visitors have taken tumbles and so there IS a need to do something to make its surface safe.....   Below to the left is a view from the office steps and down to Green Cottage

It is quite a distance, and half of it is quite WIDE.   The paving stones will be taken up, the ground again levelled, and THEN interlocking bricks will be laid down - (picture left).  This is Daryl's idea, and we think it will be a great improvement, and easier in the future to keep maintained.    Whilst this is being done there will be exploration to discover if tree roots from surrounding trees are interfering with the foundation of Green Cottage which is finding cracks occurring in the floor in places.    Below are two other views.  ONE of Green Cottage, on the left, and then one of Testimony House below it on the left where the Job materials are currently awaiting use.

In the FIRST photo, about midway up on the right can be seen a pale line crossing the lawn. This is the 'pathway' continuing from Green Cottage to Testimony  House and the main Drive again.     Thus you can, in your mind, place Testimony house (shown in the 2nd photo)  exactly opposite Green Cottage.
The RAINS have continued, and you can now see the beautiful scene around us, with so much peaceful greenery and space.  Remembering where we began fifty years ago, this is truly a little paradise.     And, indeed, I  believe God set it all up, just for us.    Especially so for those who first came here with us into Testimony  House.   But, of course it did not appear quite as it is today since the whole place had been neglected for three or more years, and was overgrown and with an air of dereliction - amazing how just a little love and care can uncover so much beauty.     And if this is so in relation to our physical surroundings, how much more this must also be true when applied to one another, and to those looking down hearted and themselves derelict.
Of course June/July is Kenya's usual 'winter-time', and with the Rains come cooler, even colder days.   So far rain has not interfered with daily work loads, and we trust this will remain so whilst the Team is with us.    We also hope that, even so, the rains will continue to be regular so that we might hope for the End of August to give us a few DRY and even sunny days to Celebrate with.

This is a fairly recent photo of me - just to prove I am alive and well, and indeed I Thank God for every day of good health.  My dear sister, a year my senior, has not enjoyed such good health, and now it is hard, at this distance (she is living in Scotland), for us to have any way of communication.    She has continued to be in and out of hospital for last eight years, and has suffered many minor strokes that have complicated her ability to write or even to carry on a clear conversation.    Very frustrating for us both, since having only just (in 2011) discovered each other, we must now still be resigned to knowing each other is there, but without the ability to benefit.     But at the least we ARE able to pray for her and to trust God for her eternal blessing.

AND I cannot leave out my dearest and only WIFE, Esther, who after 48 years of marriage is now more than ever part of me;  She has stopped dying her hair these days, and so she is quite grey, but in herself still radiates the beauty that has always been her's, both within and without.  We have and do enjoyed great joy and happiness, but we have also many times had to suffer each other, and in enduring have found ourselves so much ONE that we can never regret our patience toward one another - just as God Himself has patience toward ALL of us.     LORD you have Blessed us, and we look forward to have many days together yet, days to enjoy each other, and to show others the enduring happiness of keeping faith in all our relationships, and overlooking all those imperfections in one another, forgiving them, and making them bind us the more together.

Now, I will close for today - the RAIN has begun again.     Our evening is beginning early with the clouds darkening the daytime.......but it will be truly dark here by 7p,m.  and if it continues cold we may even light a fire!       Our love to you all, with deep and heartfelt thanksgiving for your faithful fellowship, day by day, in Jesus.
Lovingly in Him,

|John, Esther, and Daryl Green